2 in 2 billion
by TheFleet
Summary: The year is 1945 and the war in Europe against the Neuroi seemingly draws to an end, in who's favor, only time will tell. As both sides rush to develop or evolve to exterminate their foe, legends and rumors of a Neuori superhive arriving in Berlin begin to unravel. Humanity however, will have a legend of it's own. Perhaps a male witch... perhaps something far worse. Please R
1. Chapter 1

A lone man stood within the pouring rain, separated from the many masses that sat behind them. The date was 1939, September 8th. The deceased had merely died one week earlier.

Perhaps the rain emphasized his sorrow, or maybe it suppressed his true emotions as his hands gripped the coffins tightly, refusing to let go, his tears swam down his cheeks as his the empty casket burned itself into his soul. His body quivered from the cold, the sorrow and the fear. His own heart pounded against his heart like a drumstick beating on a drum, something that would always be the first sign of trouble to this particular man.

His name was Malcolm Prospero, a Captain in the Liberion military. Dressed in full uniform underneath his heavy coat, he continued to weep helplessly, not caring about how he appeared. Not that he needed to, for the masses behind him shared many similar feelings, not one of them unfeeling to the lose of Malcolm.

One lone soul would dare to approach the mourner. A small boy who walked up slowly to touch his father on the shoulder, his eyes were moist and his voice frightened.

"Is Mommy in a better place?"

Malcolm had no answer to his son as he ceased weeping. He took a moment, or rather, many long hours as it would seem to regain his composure that he would need to say the true answer as he took his son back down to the seats, where they would lower the body into the cemetery.

"She's gone... maybe to a better place." Malcolm said as he stopped crying.

"What will we do now Daddy?" The boy, Luca asked.

"Do what your mother wanted us to do." Malcolm said as he hugged his son. Something he would never do in a long time. As he bent down on his one knee to embrace his son, he looked behind the boy to see the man in the uniform. Malcolm rose after he was done embracing the boy and got up to meet the man whom he would throw a quick salute to. His superior, who in truth would no longer held the title after this moment, only went up to his ear, whispered the words.

"It is done. You are the one who was chosen. We place the task upon you now... General."

* * *

[Karlsland. Outskirts.]

"Reinforcements?" Minna echoed as she listened into the radio once more.

"Yes, Reinforcements." The operator replied. "The official orders are that the 501st joint fighter wing is to gain a new replacement following Major Mio Sakamoto's reassignment as a Fuso Naval officer."

"But we don't..."

"Tell that to the higher-ups, not me." The operator replied. The line went dead.

"Great." Minna muttered underneath her breath. Exiting the tent, she took a look outside at the rather calm day. You couldn't even tell that just an hour ago, there was actually another dogfight straight in the skies with the Neuroi. It's a good thing everyone was doing a good job of keeping the skies clear. However... back to the subject of a replacement for Sakamoto...

It wouldn't be TOO bad. In fact, it would actually be pretty nice to have someone fill in the spot that Mio had left open after her... well... losing her ability to operate a striker and all...

Minna took a look at the 501st that had just been reinstated just merely a week ago. Everyone and everything seemed to be all in good working order, save for the fact that Mio had actually been reassigned for rather obvious reasons, that involved her inability to operate a striker. All anyone could actually hope for as of now that whoever her replacement would be, she better be good. Real good.

* * *

[Over Europe]

"Everything all right lieutenant?" The engineer asked as he took a look at the boy. For the entire time, his hands had been shaking like an autumn leaf at the winter gale.

"Wha... huh? Oh yes... I am fine." Luca replied as he made a point of sitting on his shaky hands. "It's just cold up here."

"Yeah... that seems to happen a lot amongst people." The engineer said as he took a look at the pilot and co-pilot. "ETA is in about twenty minutes, then you can get off this bucket and bolts and dive right into the action."

"Yeah... thanks."

"Now by the way..." The engineer asked. "Lieutenant Prospero is it?"

And here it comes...

"Yes." Luca replied as he braced himself.

"You don't happen to be any relation to Malcolm Propsero... right?" The engineer asked again.

"He's... um... he's my dad..." Luca said awkwardly. The reaction on the Engineer's face made everything clear as day.

"Mother of... that is awesome! Can I get an autograph?! Can I ever... sorry..." The Engineer stopped as he realized Luca was becoming more and more agitated.

"It's okay... it happens a lot once I mention it." Luca said. "Well... I normally wouldn't anyways until some brings it up."

"I apologize again... it's just pretty amazing... he's the guy who..."

"Intercepted the Neuroi attack at Hawaii, located and masterminded the destruction of all the hives within northern Europe and located several "mini-hives" within the alps. I know... he's my dad after all.." Luca began. There was more actually. Much more. The thoughts and memories continued to flood his mind as he sat back down, remembering the man who is his father.

"Anyways... is it... um... true?"

"What is?"

"Well... they say that you're a... um..."

"Witch? Yeah. I am the only one in existence. Lucky me... right?" Luca lied as he continued to think about his father and his dead mother. The plane would be touching down soon. The sooner, the better it would be for Luca and his sanity. The questions the engineer asked... maybe it wouldn't seem say to the ordinary person, but it was the type that would make Luca want to tear out his own eardrums to avoid. Of course, he would never say this, or even make any hints at wanting to do anything remotely on this level.

* * *

[Twenty minutes later]

"They're here? So soon? Well... alright." Minna said as Charlotte (or Shirley, as she preferred) gave her the news of the arrival of the plane. Getting up from the tent, the commander of the 501st went off to go grab a look at what the new girl was all about.

Imagine the confusion of Minna then, when no girl stepped out of the plane. Just a single man, probably the plane's engineer, who ended up turning around to take a look at the fuel and engines. And just there, awkwardly standing, was a boy in an Liberian uniform. His dark hair was well groomed and he his uniform was in the utmost condition. The symbols on the sleeves indicated he was lieutenant.

For a while, there was nothing until Luca stepped forward toward Minna whom he assumed to be the commander of the 501st. Throwing her a salute, he took a deep breath, and as he had readied himself several times, said the words.

"Lt. Lucas Prospero, formerly of the 212th airborne division, now reassigned to the 501st Joint Fighters Wing."

It took longer than normal for Minna to digest what had just gone on. But when she had, she did a rather good job of hiding her immense surprise, and began.

"Lt. Colonel Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke. commander of the 501st Joint Fighters Wing." She said as she threw him a salute. She took a scrutiny at him for a while, before telling him the basics. This was of course, asking him the question. The same question every single time he meets up with fighter wing.

"You're the witch, right?"

And as usual, Luca would reply with his normal "yes" with little to no emotion behind it. He had done this too many times.

"Very well then, welcome aboard." Minna said as she smiled at him. Whether or not it was forced or genuine, Luca couldn't tell. Too many times. Far too many times. "We've prepared accommodations for you, though this is merely a temporary headquarters. Your tent is the one that's currently empty, which is over there."

"Thank you ma'am." Luca replied as he grabbed his belongings. A M1919 Browning and a small bag which contained whatever things of sentimental value he had.

The walk to the tent wouldn't have been so bad. He got stares quite often on day one. The only thing that made this a bit... well... odd was the fact that someone literally fell on him straight out of a tree.


	2. Chapter 2

"Nrrrggggghhhh..." Luca groaned as he chewed in a mouth full of dirt, something of considerable weight just landed straight on his shoulders, and as of then, someone was sitting right on his back.

"Hey... roll over!" The happy childlike voice sang as Luca did his best not to eat even more grass. He did as he told, lest he get another mouthful of dirt, when he went face up, was face to face with a cute girl with black hair, tied into two pony tails and sweet smile which would soon turn to an open mouth of wonder.

"You... you... you're not a girl?"

"No..." Luca said as he sat up, dusting off his uniform. "I am not..."

"Wow... wait... are you the new gi... guy?" Francesca asked with two raised eyebrows.

"Yes..." Luca replied as he got up only to realize that they were attracting a ton of attention which caused him to break into cold sweat. Here it comes.

"Wow! A boy witch?!" Francesca announced so loud that the entire world could of heard it. "This is amazing! You're like the only one I've ever met!"

"A male witch? Is that even possible?"

"Whoa... those exist?! That's pretty... that's pretty cool actually..."

"What's going on now...?"

"Umm... hi?" Luca said nervously as he got up, realizing he was now surrounded by his new comrades which he would now stay with, hopefully for longer than what happened to the last group.

"Whoa... there really is a male witch!" A girl in a Liberian uniform commented as she scrutinized him for a bit, perhaps getting a little too close to him for comfort. "OR ARE YOU JUST IN DIGUISE!"

"That's not funny..." Luca said taking a step back, feeling as though he was about to get murdered violently.

"Oh you're no fun..." Another girl in a Suomus uniform commented. "She's just joking."

"Oh it's his first day. Give him time." The Liberian girl said as she turned to Luca. "Hiya, my name is Charlotte Yeager. But you can call me Shirley."

"Lucas... but please, call me Luca." Luca replied as he braced himself for the question that was about to be asked.

"Your name... on your uniform..." Shirley began. "It says "Prospero" you don't happen to be related to... um..."

"He's my father..." Luca said nervously, watching as Shirley's eyes widened with amazement.

"Your dad is THE Malcolm Prospero?! You must be a total badass then!" Shirley practically announced.

"Wait... who's Malcolm Prospero?" A girl in a Britannian uniform asked scratching her head in confusion. Being from Britannia, she typically didn't read the Liberian newspapers.

"Oh... right... So... Luca... you wanna tell them about how awesome your dad is? Maybe it can break the ice a bit, dontcha think?" Shirley asked, perhaps a bit too energetically.

"Well... okay then... let's begin... I guess..." Luca said as he took a look around him.

* * *

The elevator cranked to life as it began it's long descent towards the underground. It's occupants, was a man in a General's uniform, flanked by two OSS men in black suits. It would take quite the while for the platform to finally reach it's destination, but that hardly mattered. The "scenery" alone was enough to keep anyone occupied for years on end. The way it worked, some may have even asked for the elevator to be slower so they get a full view of what it was like deep within the alps.

"Can't believe this used to be a Neuroi hive." One of the men said. He may have said something that hinted at surprise, though his tone and his face showed none of it. So was the case with his partner, who only grunted in agreement. The two continued their one thousand mile stare forward, straight at the many floors of weapons, vehicles, men and construction.

"We're here gentlemen. But of course, as you were told, you are to return to your previous assignments." Malcolm said to the two guards, who both nodded their acknowledgements. The elevator would send them both up back to the surface. Malcolm however, would continue through the long corridor, at the end of the long (and frankly, almost horror movie like) hallway was a single door, guarded by four witches in black uniform. A shoulderband on each uniform would picture the logo, as well as the big letters TEMPEST.

"Gentlemen..." Malcolm began as he entered the meeting room full of the world's best and brightest. "Thank you all for coming here today, but as you all know, there is no such time for any pleasantries. For out there, there is a war. A war we must win. For are we not the TEMPEST, where after us, there will be the calm? Now then gentlemen, we are to talk about... the possibilities of none other, than ending this war... what should it be?"

"Ze prototypes have been finished Herr Prospero... zey have now to be field tested. Ve believe their use will finish zis war rather swiftly... ja?"

"Liberian Command has given us full unlimited resources, we could arm the armies of the world with our weapons, the Neuroi would not stand a chance against our might."

"We don't even have to do that... reports are in that a major hive was destroyed in Gallia just a week ago. It looks like we've already won this war."

"We have not won this war. We will not in the long run." Malcolm said at the last comment. "The Neuroi are rather... persistent. They will continue to spawn their fiendish kind within Europe until we have destroyed every last one of them. Only in the total destruction of all hives can we ensure they will never threaten the earth again. It will not be easy, every day that one hive is left untouched means that another may be on it's way to reinforce the devils. We must act... and it must be with the utmost speed if we are to win and save humanity."

"Then... sir, how will we do that?"

"A few selective members have been working on that. It's details will be revealed... later... as of now however, the prototypes...

* * *

"And lastly, this is Barkhorn." Minna said as they sat around the circle. Finishing Luca's great story about his dad, they had begun introductions.

"Your father... he must have the most disciplined army in the world if he can possibly conquer the Neuroi in such a short time." Barkhorn said. "A true soldier no doubt."

"He's great... yeah..." Luca said as he took a look around. "So... um... what now?"

"Well... already excited for some action now?" Minna asked. "Don't worry you'll get your chance."

"Being the son of Prospero and being a MALE WITCH you really must be a badass. How high is the victory count?" Shirley asked. "100? 200? 300? 1000?!"

"What? No... it's actually only 33." _1000? You really should talk to the other Prospero if you want that high_

"Heh... not bad... not bad..." Shirley said. Perhaps somewhat disappointed but... nevertheless, not bad.

"So... what can you do?" Eila asked after a long pause. No one had seemed to bother to ask.

"Oh... yeah... well, my ability is that I can well... perceive Neuroi in a certain distance of here. But since there aren't any... well... I got nothing."

"So... you're essentially a Neuroi radar?" Yoshika asked.

"Yeah... pretty much." Luca replied. "I hope it's... well... I heard about how you were down a guy... girl and how it happened and all... and..."

"It's fine... it's fine..." Minna said rather quickly, not wanting to go too much down on that topic. "But can you tell us more about your father?"

"Well..."

* * *

"Hello old friend." Malcolm said as he stepped with a sealed off section of the new TEMPEST headquarters. Upon a rack was a particular looking suit. From the outside, it looked nothing more than just a shrouded piece of hood along with some black clothing, a type of gear that one would expect assassins and thieves of the old to wear. A closer scrutiny would reveal the tiny little hexes upon the armor, for that was what it truly was armor whilst a red hexagon sat at the chest piece. The armor that had the protection and regeneration capabilities of the Neuroi and the flexibility of just normal clothing. This was the _Archer_ class armor, designed from Neuroi technologies and some those working on the warlock had even went out to "borrow" this intelligence.

He donned the costume, or rather, it wrapped upon him as he gave a wave of his hand, the entire armor was like the darkest night in color. As the armor finished putting itself on, he waited for the hood which came over his head, a large mask clasped over his head save for his eyes, which instead would be covered by a strange red streak. Slowly, he levitated off the ground and grabbed a customized anti-tank sniper rifle.

"Merlin to control tower..." Malcolm said, his voice now changing into a low growl. "I am ready."

"Merlin, this is control tower. You are clear to take off. Good hunting sir."

The HUD on the armor began to pop up, allowing him an unobstructed view of everything in front of him, but that won't just be the only thing. This piece of equipment was perhaps the most advanced thing on the planet currently, and it would be nothing more than at his control.

"Locate all Neuroi in 300 kilometers."

Done. He had found his prey. Like a black raven of ill omen, he shot off in the direction at speeds that shouldn't even be possible, he was ready. His prey however... nothing would ever prepare it.

* * *

**In case anyone was wondering why it was called TWO in 2.3 billion... hopefully the last part tipped everyone off. **

**About the suit however... think of it as somewhat along the lines of the Warlock from Season 1. The warlock was more of a Mecha than anything, though had the ability to change into a "humanoid" form which would stay afloat I would assume from similar design to Striker units. Same concept here except the flight is sustained through the same way the Neuroi fly. No one knows how.**

I should also include the fact that Malcolm is indeed the other Male witch, if it hadn't been abundantly obvious. More of his character would probably have to be explored because he's going to be a major player in all of this. After all, how couldn't the leader of Liberian's top secret weapons research division NOT play a big role?

**A few people may know, he is indeed based off of "Malcolm Merlyn" from the show Arrow. Maybe cause his CALLSIGN? Or name? Or probably how the armor is described. It should look a little something along the lines of this: **** . /files/costumes/292/65315/CI_65315_ **


	3. Chapter 3

"Oooooh... what's this?!" Francesca asked as Luca began to unload his belongings.

"It's the M1919 Browning." Luca replied as he checked to see if his old friend was in fine working order. "It means a lot to me."

Indeed it did. An old friend, not just his friend, but a family friend.

"It looks nice!" Francesca commented, Shirley has one just like that!

"I wouldn't be surprised." Luca said. "It's Liberian standard issue."

That may have been. The browning really wasn't anything special, it was his side arm that was.

"And what's this? Shirley doesn't have one." Francesca said as she took out a sidearm. It certainly wasn't Liberian, it looked more like it was from Karlsland in design, similar to a Luger though... a Luger wasn't all black and didn't have red hexes located at the barrel and at the handle.

"It's um... customized." Luca began. Technically speaking, it was standard issue. Just depends on which division you were from. "Please don't..."

"Wow! This looks so cool!" Francesca said as she grabbed the gun and began to toy around with it like a young child who just found something cool off the sidewalk. "Hey Shirley, check this out! Luca's got this really AWESOME pistol!"

Oh brother. Why did he take it with him again? Or right... because his dad wanted him to be the first guy to actually field test the TEMPEST made firearms. That's why. Because you know... having your son test your new dangerous and most likely volatile and unstable weapons is exactly what your supposed to do as a father? For all Luca knew, and probably for all Malcolm also knew, the thing could just explode in his face the moment he pulled the trigger.

"That looks like it's from Karlsland." Shirley commented. "Where'd you get that?"

"Umm... I got it when I was shipped here..." Luca began. And here comes Barkhorn...

"That's from Karlsland? I thought I recognized the design... Francesca! Why are you waving that thing around?! It's not a toy!"

"Hey...hey... cut her some slack! It's not like she's going to fire it or anything!"

"Cut her some sl... ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Barkhorn practically blasted into Shirley's face. "How do we know that she won't accidently shoot and kill someone?!"

"Yeah... what Barkhorn said..." Luca mumbled. "Francesca... I think I need it back now..."

"Awww... but it looks so awesome! Did you paint it yourself?!"

"No... the maker did..." Luca lied. _It wasn't paint, he could give anyone that. If... that anyone happened to have been allowed access to confidential information... yes. _Pocketing the gun, he was glad to get it out of sight as he listened to the argument between Shirley and Barkhorn. Now would be a pretty good time to get his other stuff out...

Wasn't much really. A canteen of water, a family photograph, one of his mother and another old family friend, a KA-BAR combat knife. His items would be placed alongside the bedroll which would be his for the time being.

Wanting to probably take a look around having finished unpacking, the boy got up, away from the two arguing girls and went off to have a look around. To his misfortunate, the moment he turned the corner, he tripped right over something. Or rather someone... Second time that day he ate a mouthful of dirt.

"Aww..." Luca groaned as he got up and took a look behind him to see what he tripped on. Or this time, it would be who he tripped on. A blond girl who happened to be wearing nothing but her underpants. She rubbed her neck a bit and turned around to go have a look at Luca.

"Ughh... who are you again?"

"I am Luca... I just got here like ten minutes ago and um... who are you actually?"

"Erica Hartmann..." Erica replied as she laid back down. "Thirty more minutes I told them..."

The fact that she was wearing nothing but her underwear really made Luca... well...

* * *

"Orders are in." Minna said as she laid a map of Germany and it's surrounding countries down on the table that everyone was gathering at. "Allied forces have been marching within Germany and are scheduled for a massive advance three days from now. Approximately 1.5 million men have landed so far since last June. The army is now poised to launch an attack into Neuroi occupied territories. Estimated time of for us to take Germany is about 8 months, assuming all things go according to plan. Our orders, as the 501st joint fighter wing, is to provide air cover for the advancing armies, we will be supporting the 8th, 16th, 13th and 18th infantry division with the 23rd and 28th armored divisions and the 666th fighter wing. A headquarters specifically set up for us as well as some other top brass in these divisions has been established along the Rhine river. We travel there..."

Luca stopped listening the moment she said all the division numbers. Why? Just why?! Surely HE didn't actually want him to be along there with him now did he?

"Is something wrong?" He heard the whisper. Turning around it was a Yoshika.

"Nothing... nothing..." Luca said as cold sweat beads trailed down his body. The night had been warm just previously, but now, it couldn't have been colder if it was right in the middle of winter.

"Oh okay... first day isn't it?" She whispered again.

"Yeah... it's kinda... well... just the usual..."

"I always heard of male witches... I just never thought they were real... until you showed up..."

"Trust me... I am not anything too amazing..." Luca said. Even after about 3 years, he still had a pretty low kill count.

"It doesn't matter... no one really was from the start..." _Yeah. If only he had been at the start as of now. Then he maybe could have been a total badass_.

* * *

"Of course... how predictable of allied command." Malcolm said over dinner with his officers as his secretary delivered the orders. "They have assigned all TEMPEST divisions all together, which will make things all the more smoother for us."

"That's... great news sir." One of his officers commented. "Would the war be over quickly with your great efficiency?"

"The news is the only good thing Colonel. Do not listen to those so-called "strategists and commanders" allied command has put upon. The war will last for at least another five years and that's assuming if we are lucky. If we deploy the prototypes now, and hope that they work the way they're supposed to, maybe three years. Naturally, I've made up my mind in solving our "little" problem in Ostmark and eastern Karlsland and portions of Orussia."

There was only silence. No comments. Everyone understood exactly what he meant. And it was for that very reason, only Malcolm could continue eating. Everyone else picked at their food, having lost their appetites, a few were praying.

"Now that aside... we're still going to fight in this war. We're not going to actually do "Operation Undertaking" until the time is right since the Manhattan research project isn't even done yet. So of course, TEMPEST is going to fight in this war with her full force. We've been assigned a wing of witches by the way because ours can't be spared. They just happened to be..."

"The one with your son... is that right sir?" One of his officers asked. "It must be good news."

"Yeah...yeah..." Malcolm said, giving about as emotion as he would if he was told that someone had ordered a pizza. "That's great."

The fact that he almost didn't care about this caused a few looks around the table for a few moments, but then everyone was back to dining... or rather, picking at their food for some while others made the pretense of eating just something.

"Lastly... I have a new scientist who will help us research in the Manhattan proeject... please welcome..."

The door opened, a small blond girl entered, defienetly a witch.

"Hello everybody." The blond girl said as she took a look around. "My name is Ursula Hartmann."


	4. Chapter 4

"Are there yet?!" Francesca asked impatiently for the umpteenth time. As usual, she got a chorus of No's for an answer causing her to sigh and pout impatiently. The car ride, or rather, truck ride had taken at least 3 hours already, and from the looks of things, wasn't going to finish up any time soon. Maybe tomorrow? Or the day after.

"You've said that like... eight times..." Perrine replied impatiently. "Why can't you take the time now to nap?!"

"Yeah... maybe I'll rest... I am pretty tired anyways..." The girl replied, probably to the relief of everyone save for Erica, who'd been already snoozing away since the truck ride had started. Laying down, she rested straight down on Shirley's lap, going out like a candle in no time.

"Thank god..." Perrine muttered underneath her breath. "Her complaining..."

_You're one to talk._

"Commander Minna..." Luca began as he thought of ways to try and entertain himself. First the plane ride, which had been absolute insanity in terms of boredom, and now this. Anymore sitting and waiting around, and he felt like he was going to lose his mind. "About um... well about Venezia..."

"Yes?"

"Was it true? About how this... "super-hive" showed up out of nowhere and destroyed the first hive?"

"It is." Minna said solemnly as she recalled the reports. "Neuroi fighting Neuroi? What was going on? The situation didn't help when we realized the true power of this Neuroi. It was huge... the core itself was like a floating city."

"And um... The Yamato... did they actually..."

"Yes. The Fuso navy had "Neuroified" the Yamato, turning it a Neuroi under our control. We hoped it didn't turn out to be like the warlock... how the machine had ended up turning upon us and attempting to control the Neuroi. Unfortunately... things became even worse than they did with the warlock."

He already knew the details. Well "knew" the detail. Luca had learned long ago that his father wasn't the most reliable source of information in the world or rather, he wouldn't be the most honest. Though the Yamato and it's "Neurofication" fascinated him. The fact that to keep it under control and to prevent it from turning against them, the Fuso Navy had set a limit to the operation time. But... then.. what happens if...

* * *

"Are you sure this works?" The deep growl of a voice asked, causing many scientists and military officials to jump within the room. "General Prospero demands results, I have been tasked with seeing it for him."

Who wouldn't be intimidated by the black shadow of a man that just waltzed into the room? The red eyeholes that glowed like the devil's own flashlight or the lethal looking array of weapons he carried? A lone man would have to answer the question, as ARCHER approached him, red eyes straight on him, burning two holes into his skull.

"Ye..ye...yes... You can tell the general it works!" The frightened scientist replied as he gestured over to the Engine. Reverse engineered Neuroi technology in design, making them inherently faster than conventional engines, perhaps fast enough to reach Liberion from southern Gallia in less than 4 hours when mounted on the average fighter. A true marvel to the ordinary man and to the nations of the world, a true achievement for TEMPEST. What was even more amazing? At least 200 engines of the same type have already been constructed.

"Very good." Malcolm said underneath the hood as he listened to the specs of the engine. He took his leave as he went back to his office, leaving the ARCHER suit on, he picked up the phone.

"Status update."

"8 hulls have been constructed and have been most refitted and rearmed. We are awaiting delivery of propulsion systems. Over 100 planes await propulsion systems."

"Excellent." Malcolm said as he hung up and dialed the last number. "Manhattan project. Estimated time of finishing?"

"4 months."

"Get it done faster."

"Yes sir."

He sat back for a moment, contemplating on the beginning and the end. He stopped only to take a look down at the photo, the photo of his wife, smiling in the picture as if she could she the face her husband who lay behind the hood.

"Hi..." Malcolm said as he took off the ARCHER armor and tucked it away for the time being. "I'd just like to let you know... we're winning. Gallia and Venezia are both free."

The photo gave no reply. Only smiled, as if it was pleased with the progress of the allies.

"You know... this war... it's been six years... everything... yeah... it's been fine and all." Malcolm said hesitantly. "But you know... just as well as I do... we'll end up seeing each other soon. These six years Rebecca... they've been the longest years of my life. But you're always here for me aren't you?"

Only a smile, a yes to Malcolm who kissed the photo lovingly.

"I promise you. When we win this war, we'll be together again. Just you and I... and eternity. But... when I do... when I see you again... will I see you again?"

Only the smile reassured him which in turn, caused the corners of his lips to go up, something that happened seldom, if almost never. Putting the photo back into his pocket, the general looked back at the clock. Almost noontime.

He had lunch with Ursula Hartmann.

* * *

"Good afternoon sir." The girl said as he arrived to the table. TEMPEST's new headquarters in the alps had a lovely view at the top of the mountain, which was actually surprisingly well camouflaged out of prying eyes for reasons that may end up boggling the minds of some... duller souls.

"Good afternoon to you too." Malcolm said as he sat himself down. In an instant, lunch and drink was brought before them, some of the best food in all of Europe. Fit for a king. "I trust that you are filling in nicely within your new position?"

"Indeed sir." Ursula said as she took a sip from the iced water. "I looked at some of your well... equipment... and I have to ask... how does TEMPEST get all of this? It's like centuries ahead of the rest of the world!"

"Brighter minds have always dominated the wills of lesser beings my friend." Malcolm replied. "The Neuroi's technology put them ahead of us, perhaps by centuries, I was told to even the playing field between the two of us, no matter what the cost would be. Now then, as you were..."

"Oh yes... the new rocketry designs have striking distances... my plan is to have them be at least a range of 20 kilometers... though I must ask, why not try something like the V-2 design? Surely TEMPEST and all of it's resources could make the V-3 to..."

"It won't work. Let me tell you straight away that with the sheer weight of these rockets, they are more likely to be guided bombs that actual rockets. The idea of having a propulsion system is really to give them... a "boost"."

"Yes... I was wondering... what kind of bombs weigh 27,000 kilograms?"

"Oh trust me... the type that will win us this war..." Malcolm smiled. "The Neuroi will give us their best. The Super-hive I suspect was the beginning. They will send in more, and we... we will stop them. One way or the other."

"But... how do you know how to? Is there..."

"Knowledge is power, guard it well. But let me ask you this... when the Neuroi first attacked, where did they only seem to attack?"

"Europe?"

"Correct. How did they get to Afrika?"

"I think it was because they sort of "spread" to Afrika... right?"

"Very good. If we cut off the source, how can there be more Neuroi?"

"I see what you're getting at sir... but that only contains them, not defeats them, if they keep coming to Europe, how can we possibly win?"

"You'll see in due time."

* * *

"Oh... finally!" Shirley said as they got out of the back of the truck. "That has got to be the SLOWEST truck I've ever ridden."

"It's the only truck you've probably ridden." Barkhorn muttered as she was about to step out. "Hey... Erica... Francesca... get out! Chop chop! Time to get up!"

No reply. Only just gentle snoring and Erica rolling over on her other side, muttering "80 more minutes Mom" in her half-asleep state.

"GET UP!" Barkhorn screamed at the top of her lungs, getting the two up in a heartbeat. "WE'RE HERE!"

_Yeah. We're here._ Luca thought as looked into the distance at the infantry divisions they were assigned to. Nothing out of the ordinary, save for the fact that if one looked closely, every soldier had an armband with the big letters TEMPEST sewn on. The armored vehicles? All had the insignia. TEMPEST. The planes? TEMPEST painted right onto the wings.

"What's TEMPEST?" Sanya asked as she took a look at a parked jeep. The driver stared at the group hostilely before going back to smoking his cigarette.

"It's a Liberian research division." Shirley said. "Man... story is, they got all the biggest badasses from Liberian and any country they could recruit! This is going to be AWESOME!"

_Probably not._ Luca thought as he saw their destination. An ancient castle built in Karlsland, now once again in use for TEMPEST as a forward base of operations. It wasn't the castle itself actually, because that reminded him somewhat of the old fairy tales his mother used to read him before he went to bed. It was the man standing in front of the door that made this a rather dark day.

It was Malcolm. Dressed in uniform and wearing the same expression of a brick.

Minna continued to lead the group like a shepherd with his flock. Walking up to the general, she threw him a salute.

"Lt. Colonel Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke here of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, given orders three days ago to support General Malcolm Prospero leading the push into Karlsland. We're happy to assist you general."

"At ease Colonel. I am glad that I have a detachment of witches at my side once again." The general said, making eye contact with Lucas for a single moment. "Now then, I ensure you can keep us covered in the skies, while my ground troops retake what belongs to us?"

"Indeed we can sir." Minna replied pleasantly with a smile. Malcolm smiled back, though an experienced observer would note, the smile was nothing more than jus the product of many rehearsals.

"Then all is well... we have well... adjusted this castle to the needs of my men and your fighter wing. Allow me to give you your guide..."

He didn't even get the chance to say the name of the guide. Someone already beat him to it within the 501st.

"Ursula?!" Erica asked with surprise as she saw her twin.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hi..." Ursula said awkwardly, evidently Malcolm had neglected to inform her of that it was the 501st joint fighter wing that had been attached to TEMPEST'S divisions. "Well then, right this way... General, will you be accompanying us?"

"Seeing as though I have no current duties at this given point, I will be." Malcolm said looking over at Luca who had begun to break into a cold sweat and began to stare at the ground. This was noticed by no one, except for Yoshika and surprisingly, Erica. Everyone else was focused on the castle itself, the old one in Britannia and the one on the island seem like mere toy houses in comparison.

"Welcome to Castle Wolfenstein." Ursula said. "So anyways, cutting to the choice, it was a tourist attraction. Was. But then when the war began, the Karlsland branch of TEMPEST ended up recovering the place for the needs of the organization."

"So we are in TEMPEST Headquarters essentially?" Shirley asked with unfeigned excitement.

"Yes..." Malcolm began. "This is our base of operations in Karlsland where our forward divisions have established themselves. Understand ladies and gentleman that Castle Wolfenstein does not exist and you were never here."

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Shirley practically squealed. "Is it true?! That TEMPEST is comprised of the world's biggest badasses to ever have lived?"

"Well..." Ursula began.

"I am rather flattered." Malcolm chuckled, cutting off the young girl. "We here at TEMPEST were given the mission to win this war with whatever means necessarily. Naturally, we've been given some of the best of the stock when facing against the Neuroi... of course, a flamboyant description as of that is very generous of you, Lieutenant Yeager. I trust that the men and women you will be working with will not disappoint."

"Please sir... call me Shirley." The Liberian practically begged. "Where are we headed?"

"My favorite part. The armory and the hanger." Malcolm said as the two men waiting outside opened the door, revealing the massive section of the castle. Strangely, all of the aircraft in the room, well most of them at least, had a black tarp over them, almost as though there was something that wasn't meant to be seen. Not that it would have stopped Eila.

"Do not touch that." Malcolm said the moment Eila's hand strayed towards the tarp on the closest plane. There weren't many things that could actually get Eila to not do something once you told her not to do it, but prudently, the girl moved about a few hundred yards away from the plane, the very menace of Malcolm's undertone was enough to send even the devil backing off away.

"Yes... sir..." Eila muttered as she tried not to make eye contact with Malcolm. Slowly, she hid behind the rest of the group where Yoshika and Luca had stayed, noticing the cold sweat Luca bled as Malcolm and Ursula continued with the tour.

"General?" Shirley asked again as they kept walking. "The planes... why are they covered in the tarp?"

"Complications with the equipment." Malcolm replied as he looked straight ahead. "The tarp is there just in case anymore... problems don't arise."

"Oh... okay... is it... like..."

"REALLY delicate." Malcolm replied. "But please... don't touch the planes okay? When they're ready, you can go and touch them all you want, though just make sure the paints dry first. The guy who paints these may not appreciate that!"

A few chuckles and light laughter ripped around the 501st at the rather weak joke. Hey, at least the general had a sense of humor.

"And here we are... getting to my favorite part..." Malcolm said as he gestured by a large door. A large heave and the room revealed a complete arsenal.

It really wouldn't be all the Anti-Neuroi classification of weapons that caught anyone's eye. LMGs, rocket launchers, anti-tank rifles weren't very special in an army that had been renowned for going fighting with the Neuroi. What was special was that on an entire side of the room, was a massive collection of swords. Katanas? Check. Scimitars? Check. Broadswords? Yep. Claymores? Got some. RAPIERS...

"Oh... wow..." Perrine said, almost sighing lovingly at a katana... for a instant, her eyes narrowed a bit at the hilt before snapping wide open. It was Reppumaru. "How..."

"A familiar sword I take it?" Malcolm asked rhetorically as he took the blade. "My... well... research teams recovered it prior to the destruction of the super-hive. I've however, had limited use for it."

_That's probably the first true thing he said this time_. Luca thought as he watched his father and listened as Perrine began to babble senselessly about Mio Sakamoto, the witch that Luca had replaced. The topic was on swordplay and hopefully...

"Swords? I like swords though in combat, I think I've only had to use them only a handful of times. I do practice with them frequently and consider myself an expert in the field. I do teach Luca though... speaking of which, I hope you've been practicing.

Uh oh.

"Huh? Oh yeah...yeah!" Luca replied chuckling nervously.

"Good. Then why don't you show me what you know?" Malcolm asked as he tossed him a sword, making careful note of how Luca's throat bobbed visibly and how everyone else well... they wanted to see it happen. Especially Shirley. Afterall being on a car ride for about a few days left people with very little to talk about, naturally, the subject about how a male witch and his father who happened to also be in the military was spoken on. As a ring was cleared so he could fight his father, Luca braced himself and swung his blade, Malcolm not even bothering to block, just moving his body out of the way as though it was nothing.

Did Malcolm really want to drag this on? No one was sure, all they could know was that for quite some time, he never even as much as swung at Luca. Hell, he never even as much as used his sword. He hardly moved as Luca swung at him, avoiding the blade without any effort. Though, after what seemed like a long time of Luca trying to swing at air, Malcolm made his move. He swung his fist and hit Luca straight into the gut, the boy staggered back against the wall landing straight against a crate.

When he looked up, he almost had a heart attack when he saw the blade flying right at him, embedding straight into the crate his back was against. He looked up at his father who wore the "I am disappointed face." Typical of him.

"Practice harder." Malcolm said as the door opened, to which a soldier whispered something into his ear. "Ursula, continue showing them around. Okay? I have work to do."

"Yes sir." The girl replied as she took a look at Luca. When Malcolm left, did she finally open her mouth to say what she wanted to say.

"Good lord... are you okay?" Ursula asked as she took a look at the sword that was inches away from Luca's throat. "Are you hurt?!"

"Yeah...yeah..." Luca said as he painfully got up. "Ow..."

"You're awful."

"Perrine..." Lynette said. "Luca..."

"How do you lose to him?" Perrine asked a bit haughtily. "He's not even a witch! You should have been able to make mincemeat out of him!"

_Oh how wrong you are._

"Nah... it's okay." Shirley said as she patted Luca on the cheek. "Man... your dad... He is so awesome!"

_Why don't we trade then?_ Luca thought to himself. He felt as though every rib of his was broken with that one blow. "Thanks... Ursula... can we please continue?"

"Oh... right!" Ursula said. "This way people..."

Luca got up after much effort, the pain remained to throb within his gut for the rest of the day. Taking a look up, he walked along with everyone else, his new comrades. Why... of all the advancing armies... why?! Why did it have to be TEMPEST?! Why did he have to be assigned with the one CO that would probably murder him?! Why?! Why did he have to be the one son... the one MALE witch that was...

Mediocre. That was the word. Mediocre. What was his father exactly?

Right. Supreme Commander of TEMPEST, Liberion's top secret research division. He was also more than just that. A decorated officer, a skilled soldier, a cunning strategist, a brilliant scientist.

He was everything. Malcolm Prospero was a miracle. And what no one except for a few people knew was that he was also a male witch. A true exception.

And here his son... what was he?

Mediocre. Average. But worse yet, below his father's expectations.

* * *

"Hello sir." A tall colonel greeted as Malcolm opened the way to the lab. The pair passed many rooms full of doctors and patients. As one would progress down the long winding corridor, one would notice the unnatural size of many of the patients.

"Good to see you too Skorzeny." Malcolm replied. "So... did it work?"

"It did General." The colonel replied. "Would you like a demonstration?"

"No need. Do I really need more than just the word of a good friend after five years?"

"I suppose not sir." The colonel replied as he sat down with his CO by the outside of one of the labs, watching the giant of a man lift about four tons worth of iron as many doctors and scientists crowded around him. "No side-effect as you can see... except I think I grew two inches."

"I still can't tell the difference..." Malcolm replied. "But my question is... did the experiment work?"

"It always works... except you know the first time... it took like an entire company to put the subject down after it went berserk. But we've devised a way to make it so that doesn't happen. I ended up testing it on the volunteers. Only thing is... the "secret thing" about TEMPEST won't really be just that secretive if we have people that are like 2 meters and weigh about 300 kilograms on average walking around just like that. I believe I am the only one to have not have had all the... well..."

He handed him the file containing the experiment. The idea of the experiment?

To fuse Neuroi regeneration abilities with human physiology. The result?

At least two feet of unnatural height growth, expanded muscle mass and bone density, increased strength. No negative side effects except for the initial tests involving berserk patients and at least 300 rounds of ammunition per person.

"So... what's the catch?" Malcolm asked as he looked it over. "You see alright to me. Nothing changed... save for maybe the two inches."

"I do believe it is because I was lucky sir. I am doubtful to whether or not we can replicate the same process without creating giants or berserking patients. But to answer your question, the catch is... only about 2 in 97 of the patients survive the process. It should be stated that during the entire merging, I was in a status of intense pain for almost 19 hours. The fact that I had not died simply from the pain is a miracle. We have about 151 of these super-soldiers at the ready. How effective they will be? Well..."

The two turned around for the show.

TEMPEST weapons were mainly built around captured Neuroi technology. The only way to truly test how effective the soldier would be against Neuroi with his new... enhancements would be... well...

Let's just say the patient didn't exactly sign up for it. He did survive... but the pain that was endured for 19 hours would be nothing compared to step 2.


	6. Chapter 6

"I am bored." Hartmann said, half asleep as she leaned back in her chair. Three days... three days... and they thought that the truck was boring... "What are you doing?"

"I am "on duty"." Luca said rolling his eyes. "By on "duty" I mean I am "detecting" and Neuroi within our perimeter."

Yeah... like a 15 mile radius really would matter. Malcolm could probably detect any Neuroi he wanted in probably 3 times that range... and yet... here he was. Luca... human radar. Having not seen any action for the last three days or even as much as received any orders for that matter save for "support TEMPEST's divisions and advances into Karlsland", it wasn't surprising that the entirety of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, (save for Lt. Colonel Minna) had fallen into what we would call... "being bored out of one's skull."

"Man... this place is like watching paint dry..." Erica continued complaining as she continued to sit back in her chair. She wouldn't have not minded it so much if Malcolm hadn't banned sleeping when "on duty". "And I can't even sleep!"

"Mmm... yeah..." Luca said as he looked for ways to entertain himself. Doing a little poking around, he found a deck of cards just waiting to be played. "Erica... how about a game of go fish?"

"Go fish? What's that?"

"Lemee teach it to you." Luca said as he dealt out the cards. It would be the most entertaining thing that'd happen to the two of them since... well... since they got here. As Luca dealt the cards, Yoshika would be out in the hanger.

* * *

The kitchen of Castle Wolfenstein was massive. Perhaps at least ten times larger than the one back in Gallia. This however, could be expected since the high number of higher ranking officials within the castle considering the many divisions that TEMPEST had fielded within Europe. Not surprisingly, they had quite the stock of ingredients, things such as sugar which was scarce as gold in some areas of Europe.

That however, wasn't really the good part. Ingredients were nice and all. But what was truly the best part? General Prospero had given her FULL access to the kitchen AND any possible things she might need. Now that was great. Naturally, she would do some cooking, hoping that for the many officers that would dine in the castle would be impressed by her skills.

As of now however, she had baked a batch of cookies and was walking in the hanger looking for the closest group of lucky people that'd receive the baked goods. The hanger too, like the kitchen was leagues larger than the original hangers back in Gallia and Britannia, big enough to it be almost a requirement to use cars and elevators to get around... JUST IN THE HANGER. Much to Shirley's disappointment however, most of the aircraft within the large place still had the tarps over them. Ever since they'd gotten here, the Liberian had been dying to see what lay underneath.

As of now however, two engineers working on strikers would get the attention of the Fuso witch. Walking over, underneath the large catwalks the girl went to the two engineers and called out.

"Hi!" Yoshika said as she saw the two heads turn to acknowledge her. "I was wondering... would you like any of these? I spent a lot of time baking them!"

The two engineers looked at each for a moment, one of them showing a smile and was about to say something until he saw it. The smile vanished instantly into the look of a soldier about to meet a grisly end.

"Ah.. uh... eh... not now." The engineer said as he looked back at what he saw. "We're not allowed to eat on duty."

"Aww..." Hey... at least she was allowed to interact with them. Maybe later she'd make them something to eat? Had she turned around, she may have been able to see what those two saw.

* * *

"Discipline. Is it not the lifeblood of every army? The thing that comes first amongst the men? And men always come first before arms and strategies. Discipline. The first thing about an army." Skorzeny said as he overlooked the two engineers who had just found out that the tall colonel had been looking at them. He had quite the nickname thanks to the headgear he wore. A helmet coupled with a distinctive skull-face mask. This had earned him the moniker of "Deathshead." Interestingly enough, even before that, his callsign had been "Hades."

"I agree." Barkhorn replied, trying to hide her immense surprise at how the colonel had know she was there. What was more surprisingly was his voice... grizzled and almost mechanical. As Skorzeny found out the day after the experiment, there was more than one side effect, albeit, not a large one. "Are you from Karlsland?"

"Indeed I am Lieutenant. As much as I'd love to engage in idle and leisurely conversation however, I do have duties to attend to. Perhaps another time, we may continue our... conversation?"

"Okay then." Barkhorn replied with a smile as the tall colonel left. Discipline huh? Erica and Skorzeny should talk.

Speaking of which... what was she doing now?

* * *

"Got any kings?" Luca asked as she looked at his cards.

"Go fish." Erica replied. "Got any three's?"

"Here." Luca said as he handed her his three. "Erica... they say you have about 300 aerial victories?"

"Yeah... why?"

"Almost ten times my amount." Luca replied sighing a bit.

"It's nothing... it's nothing..." Erica said. "But say... how are you liking the 501st?"

Tough question. Well...

Francesca. She was well... maybe a bit too hyper and probably should really watch herself now that they were in Malcolm's domain. If Colonel Deathshead catches her napping... she's going to get torn a new one... but come on... who couldn't like her? She's so sweet and so happy go-lucky and yeah...

Something told him the guy they call "Deathshead" isn't going to give a damn.

Of course... that was only one person. That one person who happened to have fallen on him out of a tree.

Yoshika and Lynette... they seemed nice enough, though Lynette seemed a bit on the shy side. Then there was Perrine.

God... three days and he felt as though he already hated the Gallian. Maybe it was because of her attitude? Maybe it was because of the way she spoke? Or maybe because she hated his guts? Doesn't matter.

Shirley was pretty funny... he had to admit even though he'd been on the receiving end of quite a few jokes. Overall, she was polite to him and the two got along well... especially with Shirley's obsession with Malcolm who never had much time to speak with her. Eila was kinda like Shirley... only she was practical jokes... and that... Luca dreaded. Especially here with these type of people.

Sanya... she never speaks does she? They have to talk some time. On the other side, there was Barkhorn who seemed to love giving people on "how to be a soldier etc. etc." straight up the ass. No wonder Barkhorn seemed to have gotten along so well with everyone she met here in TEMPEST. And boy... does she remind him of his father. Unlike Minna of course who was almost... motherly. Genuine. Something his father never was and that... he felt... he felt as though that's why Minna was a suitable leader. Maybe they should talk some time.

And lastly well... the girl in front of hi...

"What the hell are you doing?! Luca asked as he saw Erica take off her uniform. The room was really warm but...

"It's hot in here." Erica replied as she sat there in her underwear. _The room wasn't the only thing that was hot in Luca's mind..._

"Umm... yeah..." Luca stammered out as he thought of well... Erica. She was cute... like... why was he thinking about this?

Things couldn't have been worse for him... even when Barkhorn opened the door to see Erica and Luca playing a game of cards... and Erica being in nothing but her underwear.


	7. Chapter 7

"Thank you again Fraken. Because no one... and I mean no one accepted my offer when I asked. But you." Malcolm said as he sat down at the dining table with a Karlsland naval officer.

"Then it seems I've made the only sensible choice." The decorated officer replied. Back in the day, when the nations of the world were only concered with fighting each other, the Fraken family of Karlsland was one of the most respected, true seamen they were all, the talents passed down from each generation as a teacher would pass down his knowledge to his student.

"I trusted you would." Malcolm replied. "But let's get straight to business. I promised you some good battles to be had, and you promise me your service and loyalty."

"Indeed I do. I wish nothing more than to see the Neuroi destroyed. No matter what the cost is." The naval officer replied as food was brought to them. As Malcolm dug in, the Captain would eat nothing until they were finished speaking.

"Good... good... there's been a... well... new thing my people and I have been working on." Malcolm replied. "If I read your file correctly, you were one of the few good men to been in a U-boat... or a submarine as I recall?"

"Yes."

"And the purpose of such a ship to be stealthy... am I right?"

"You are general."

"I thought so. It's something that's been being worked on since 1936 after the first Neuroi invasion. The actual well... mechanics of the ship but I think you'll like it." Malcolm replied. "I am certain you've heard the story of the Yamato in the Venezian airspace?"

"Yes." Fraken replied. He knew exactly where this was going. "We're going to Neuroify a submarine?"

His voice contained no doubt. Strange almost. But exactly the type of man Malcolm wanted.

"You are clever Captain. I am glad to have a man like you here." Malcolm smiled. "The submarine has already been completed... but we shouldn't call it a submarine anymore now should we? Are you familiar with how Striker's work?"

"Invented by Dr. Miyafuji, they allow a witch to fly using their magical abilities. But... what's special about them isn't the power of flight... it's exactly how a witch manages to fit all her ammunition and her legs within the Striker."

"Did I say you were clever Captain?" Malcolm asked with almost disbelief. "But that aside... a pocket dimension exists within each individual striker. Intriguing isn't it? Imagine if we were able to... replicate this type of technology onto a U-boat or submarine... instead of diving into the water... you'll be diving into a pocket dimension where nothing can scratch you."

"I am liking the sound of this already. Would I be right to assume the "torpedos" have similar capabilites?"

"You're dived in, we can get them to dive out."

The Captain grinned wolfishly as he took a sip of wine and began to eat his food. A sign that he was in on this all the way through.

"Then I will be of utmost service to you General. You seem to posses the tools to end this war, I'll give you a man who can."

"Thank you Captain. We've tested it already to know it works. But... we can test it further, this time however, on the Neuroi."

"Very well sir." The Captain replied. "Now I've read the files you gave me. The things you build here... why haven't we already won the war?"

This was said as half a joke, half serious. Nevertheless, it would require a totally serious answer.

"Is Europe lost Captain?" Malcolm asked, a bit suddenly to say.

"Not completly... but the damn Neuroi keep coming back. It's like fighting a Hydra. Cut off one head, two more will grow to take it's place. I don't see this war ending until another 10 years at this rate. Even then... will it end in our favor? We got things like witches but I am not too trusting in sending children to war. In fact... my daughter is a witch... though I think myself sensible enough not to let her go fight."

"Witches are humanity's only real defense against the Neuroi. With only one line of defense... we are on the losing end here." Malcolm replied. "But TEMPEST is going to change that."

"And that's why I am with you." Fraken replied as he daintly wiped his face with the napkin.

* * *

"Got your goggles?" Erica asked Luca as the pair took off into the air. Browning and MG 42 were readied.

"Yeah." Luca said as he took a look at the rounds. Paintballs. "You think Trude still thinks we were..."

"It's okay. She won't say anything." Erica replied. It had taken quite some time to convince Barkhorn that they were playing Go Fish and not "Strip Poker". Even then, she was still pretty suspicious. Typical of Barkhorn. But if there was one good thing from getting another lecture about "decency", "being dressed" etc, it was that it was BARKHORN that had been doing it and not say... well... Malcolm or Skorzeny. Even though Barkhorn was MAYBE convinced that they were playing just a regular card game, she still ended up kicking the two out to go practice outside. Which actually... sounded pretty good after not having anything to do for three days straight.

"Alright... alright... because if she does... I am going to be screwed beyond belief." Luca replied. "So... we starting?"

"Yeah. 3...2...1... Go!" Erica said as the two took off at the ready.

* * *

"You hear?" Eila chuckled mischevously to Sanya as she nudged her slightly while the two were watching Erica and Luca. "I heard Luca and Erica were playing strip poker in Erica's room."

"Aren't there rooms next door to one another too?"

"YEP!" Eila continued liking where this was going. "Hey... you think..."

"Now... I am fairly certain those two wouldn't go that far... they just met after all!"

"I dunno... one night stands... if that's what it's called in Liberion are pretty popular." Eila continued grinning widely. "Maybe I'll take a look into it? If this isn't a one night stand... well..."

"Now then..." Sanya said, her eyes wide. "I am certain that's not what they were doing and that it was just a big misunderstanding. Barkhorn even said it herself!"

"Oh really now? Maybe Barkhorn is in on it too!"

Yeahhhhhhh... and here they come down. With Luca covered in paint.

"I need a shower." Luca said as he took another look at himself. From head to toe, he was covered in yellow paint whilst Erica had yet to even as much as break sweat.

"Have fun washing the clothes." Erica giggled. For rather obvious reasons, he'd been wearing his regular clothes and not his uniform.

"Screw you." Luca replied. They were the only clothes he had at the moment, to which he'd been promised several times by Minna that she would look into to trying to get him some regular clothing aside from his two uniforms. Those were a huge No-No when it came to practicing with anything that could be potentially messy.

"I bet that's an invitation." Eila giggled causing Luca to flee the scene and Erica to give her the death stare.

Behind them... a dark figure in a black hood watched them for a while before flying off to parts occupied by the Neuroi.


	8. Chapter 8

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen." Malcolm said as he sat down with the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. "I know that for the past three days... it had been rather uneventful..."

No one really said anything. Except for Francesca who began to say incomprehensible things about "most boring" place in all of Europe which caused many of the uniformed soldiers in the room to bit their lips or stand a bit extra ramrod straight which almost seemed impossible. Most of the witches themselves however, had little comment to Francesca's little outburst, which surprisingly, Malcolm actually seemed to acknowledge. Not in the bad way too which surprised everyone a wee bit more.

"Alright, Lucchini... okay. Anyways... that was actually what I was going to touch upon." Malcolm replied as he clapped his hands. In an instant, all lights in the room were turned off and a projector was turned on, showing them a map of Karlsland with various areas marked out. Castle Wolfenstein and Berlin being the most prominent of the markings.

"As you can see here... we here are on the outskirts of Karlsland. Relatively speaking. The Neuroi are currently occupying the Berlin airspace in what I call... the "Superhive". The only problem we, the allied nations of the world currently has is that the Neuroi hive has been able to produce enough reinforcements for the Neuroi that our advance is at a complete halt. We can take care of everything they throw at us... but at the end of the day, gaining just ten inches of land is going to cost a bloody mess. That is where you come in."

He moved aside for a moment as he circled off some of the arrows on the map.

"These are our advances... planned ones at least. I need the 501st to cover the allied advance. Currently however, TEMPEST's divisions will NOT be participating in any active combat until further notice. You will however, be able to receive any form of support or aid from TEMPEST and it's facilities. Let me tell you all right now, it's the best the world can give."

Murmurs of agreement went around the room as the 501st began to chatter with each other about the developments.

"Good? I see there are no objections? Excellent. Then I will be giving the joint fighter wing it's first orders. Lieutenant Luca Prospero and Flying Officer Hartmann will be assigned to..."

Luca stopped listening as he looked at the girl next to him who gave him a grin and wink causing the boy to blush deeply. Inwardly... he smiled to himself. He liked Erica. She was cute... pretty nice and... here he goes again.

"Alright then. And as usual, Night patrol today will consist of Flying officer Sanya Litvyak." Malcolm said as he finished his orders, not even noticing the fact that half of the 501st were looking over to Luca and Erica.

* * *

"Hmmmm nice." Malcolm said as he took a look at Ursula's design. "So... range again?"

"Approximately 100 kilometers sir... but I've hardly started so..."

"No matter. If it works just a fraction as well as it looks on paper, I will be good with that." Malcolm said as he looked it over. "I can leave you here now?"

"Yes sir. I have a question, actually many questions. Why is there so many black ink on the papers you give me?"

"It's confidential."

"I know that..." Ursula said a bit annoyed. "But what's so..."

"Shhhhh..." Malcolm hushed as he placed a finger on her lips. "Confidential means confidential. I will tell you later on however though. In due time my dear."

"Okay general." Ursula said. "But if I may... is it okay if I look at what you're building at least?"

"Well..." Malcolm began. "Okay then... what you want to help too?"

The question was partly a joke, partly serious. Ursula's reply however would contain no sign of jest.

"Yes!"

* * *

"Flying Officer Ursula Hartmann is now going to be part of the research team for Project: ASCENSION?" Skorzeny asked as the men sat down in Malcolm's office.

"Yes. She has promised to help create missile launchers for the project. Just because of her age, don't underestimate the fact that she's rather knowledgeable to anything that involves rockets and explosions. Exactly a girl I need. By the way Skorzeny, are you aware of that new moniker you have?"

"Deathshead?" The colonel replied with a ghost of a smile. "It's quite flamboyant. But I love it."

"Such a name seems as though it bring fear upon the minds of lesser willed men... unfortunately, our enemies are not man but the Neuroi. As we know however, if such unfortunate events ever occur to change that, I will need you to do what needs to be done."

"You can count on me." Deathshead said as he smiled wolfishly. "General, I also handpicked some men for you. Perhaps you would like to take a look?"

"Let's see it." Malcolm said as he took a look at the files.

"Major James Custer... one of the successful out of the 151?"

"That is correct. Liberian. Even before we... upgraded him... he had quite the history of being a Neuroi hunter. When TEMPEST makes it's offensive, he'll be good to have. When... less sensible individuals decide to raise up against us, he will still retain his good use. His loyalty to TEMPEST and his hatred for the Neuroi with his will to win this war is unquestionable."

"That is good. You heard of Karl Fraken?"

"The Karlslandian naval officer? He's agreed?"

"You bet. To destroy the Neuroi is all he wants in return for his services. We'll be getting quite a bit of both... who's... who's this?"

"The name's unknown actually." Skorzeny said as he handed him the one picture of the man. "He is referred to by the people of Suomus as "White Death". Story is... he might be a better sniper than you. The only thing about him is that he prefers smaller targets. Savors the hunt and is a master of stealth."

"I am beginning to like him already." Malcolm said. "Anymore?"

"Tons actually. But mostly just naval officers who've agreed. The ones I gave you have sort... of say... agreed to be apart of our little cabal. Whether or not the fight is against the Neuroi or less enlightened members of our species... we are prepared to whatever it takes sir."

"Good. Then surely you know about what Project Manhattan and Operation Undertaking will be about?"

"Indeed I do. To end this war, and all potential threat of the Neuroi... this will bring fierce opposition however..."

"I know that. That is why the man called "White Death" is here when I can't be. Not to mention, I am not even that good of a sniper. I can just find the cores easily."

"Whatever you say sir. But you are truly one of the most capable soldiers this world will ever see. And as of this time, you are the most capable witch that lives."

"Hopefully... no one knows about that." Malcolm replied as he stood up and opened his wardrobe. The false back panel fell away to reveal the ARCHER armor that looked back at him.


	9. Chapter 9

"Got another one!" Erica called out happily as she shot down the small Neuroi drone. "Five for me! How are you holding up?"

"I got like... one." Luca grumbled as he saw the shiny Neuroi shards fall to the ground like a bright and beautiful snow. If only they were like that all the time, then this world might have been a slightly better place.

"You're not bad at this." Erica winked as she flew next to him.

"Meh." Luca replied Unenthusiastically as he looked down. The battle below looked almost like ants fighting one another. As ordered however, the pair were told that they were not suppossed to dip down too far... whatever the reasoning behind this... no one knew. Luca however, wasn't exactly one to argue with his father. Not that he ever did... once in his entire life time. He just knew that doing so would probably end badly. Really badly.

He looked back at Erica who kept scanning the skies for any tell-tale signs of Neuroi. None for now so it would be the ideal time to rest for a moment. He couldn't help but stare at her. The beautiful golden locks... those eyes... and

"See anything?" Erica asked as she spun around. "No? I thought you saw something."

_Just the most beautiful girl in the world._ Luca thought to himself. "Thought I saw something. Nothing I suppose."

"Alright then." Erica replied. "Too easy."

"Maybe for you..." Luca replied. "Well... if I was going to give my two cents... I'd say those guys down there would have it finished in..."

"Why the hell are we not helping them anyways?" Erica asked. "I know we're not bombers and all, but I don't think the two of us strafing them a bit can't hurt."

"I am not a Major Sakamoto. We run into the heavier types down there and we'll just be wasting ammunition." Luca replied. "It's a good thing that... me and my big mouth."

Roughly 10 miles out... a Heavy class of Neuroi was approaching them at high speed. Great. Just great.

"Damn it..." Luca grumbled. _So much for TEMPEST having the best intel there is. _"Alright Erica... what do we do now?"

"What's wrong?" Erica asked as she listened to Luca grumble incomprehensible things to himself. Mostly involving things regarding "god-awful intel" and/or "worst luck in the world."

"We got a heavy class of Neuroi approaching." Luca replied. "Ten miles from here... worst part is, because we can't locate it's core... and there's only two of us, it's going to be pretty hard... you think..."

"I think? Come on. If half the stories about your dad are true... then you got to be able to do this without lifting a finger." Erica said as she waved him over. "Let's go!"

_The thing is... the stories are only half the things that are true._ Luca thought as he sped along with Erica, his mind pounding with thoughts about him and his dad.

His dad. The first male witch in centuries since the likes of Merlin, Genghis Khan, Robin Hood and Beowulf. Only six years ago was he an ordinary witch... save for his unique ability. That day his mother died...

His dad went away for 6 months after the funeral. Somewhere... only to comeback. Stone cold and ever more distant from his son. 3 years later, when Luca had turned thirteen, they had discovered he was a male witch. The second one in existence, quite the rarity due to the lack of male witches since the 1500s. Sure... rumors of certain individuals... but nevertheless... rare. It was only in the ancient times, in the times of Leonidas, Achilles, Hector, Lysander, Hercules and Ajax were male witches not only common, but they actually outnumbered the amount of female witches at the time.

And here they are... where female witches seem to be the only witches left. Not that anyone could really care less about the topic. What Luca really cared about was the topic of his father.

What was his father's ability? Confidential. Only Skorzeny, his personal physician and his son knew what it was. A handful more knew that the mysterious man know as MERLIN which had been instrumental in clearing the alps of Neuroi was actually his father in disguise.

Only Luca knew the full extent of his father's abilities. How couldn't he? He was the first and only one to see it happen during the Neuroi invasion of Berlin. Malcolm had demonstrated that day that even with all the magic he acquired, he could easily turn Heavy classes inside out without even as much as having a Striker unit. Give him the ARCHER armor and Malcolm would make mincemeat of entire hives just by himself. If there was one thing Neuroi ever feared, it would be Malcolm. The man behind the dark hood that haunted the night skies of Karlsland and Ostmark.

And what his son? Luca? The prodigee child that Malcolm had once said that if anything was to happen to him, Luca would take his place?

A male witch. That was it. Nothing special. Hey... maybe if he follows the trend of the other male witches, he might get to keep his powers for the rest of his life. Not that it would do him any good. Malcolm keeping his powers for the rest of his life? He would have destroyed all the Neuroi in Karlsland at least a bajillion times over by then.

As he thought about his father. How during the alps, he had shot down three Capital classes AT THE SAME TIME, he remained somewhat oblivious to the chatter on the radio. It actually took Erica quite a few tries to tell him to listen to her through the radio.

"LUCA! New orders! We're clearing off!"

"Wait what?" Luca asked with disbelief as his thoughts of how much of a badass his father was, and how much of a mediocre soldier he would turn out to be slowly crept out of his thoughts.

"WE GET OUT!" Erica said as she flew over and practically dragged him away. "Are you listening to your radio? Colonel Deathshead has been telling us like eight times to get out of here."

"What? Why?"

"I dun... on second thought... I think I might know..." Erica said as she looked behind Luca who's head slowly turned around.

A fighter, black as night approached them. It's design was clearly earthly, but had an eerie resemblance to the Neuroi. It's speed was motion-sickness inducing as it cut through the air at the speed of sound straight for the Heavy class, follwed by it's two wingmen. Beneath the aircraft, two compartments on both sides opened up, dropping down several black rockets that flew straight at the Neuroi.

The thing was... at this current day and age... rockets didn't fly straight at the Neuroi no matter how much it seemed to "duck and weave". The projecticles were tailing it relentlessly, until in the end, it was the rockets which were faster, colliding with the Heavy class and turning it into several bright shards of dead Neuroi.

"Whoa..." Erica said as she saw the planes fly off at speeds that would make Shirley envious. "Did you see that?"

"I did..." Luca said as he saw the planes return to base. "Damn..."

* * *

"The weapons... preformed adequately." Skorzeny commented as he listened to the pilot's report from the radio. "Five missiles destroyed the Heavy class. No damage was taken to our planes."

"All is well." Malcolm replied as he saw the planes dock back into the hangar. "How are those two doing?"

"As in..."

"Luca and Erica."

"A bit slow on clearing off the battlefield. Though... they were not in the way of our test pilots. Should I have them..."

"Not neccessary THIS time." Malcolm began. "Though... I think I will give off the order next time."

"As you wish sir." Skorzeny said as he put on the skullmask and his uniform. "We have three companies that are armed with the new weapons. Neuroi ground forces are still succeeding keeping our offensive in check."

"We'll remedy that." Malcolm replied. "But as of now... I am detecting that the Super-hive's activity has now increased by 300%. They'll be fighting harder now that they know about us."

"Then with all due respect General... was our test... ill-conceived?"

"Absolutly not. Let the Neuroi exhaust themselves by building more. This gesture of defiance is futile. We will crush them." Malcolm began as he looked back into the hanger. "Let them fight... let them try... but in the end... how can they win? Even if Operation: Undertaking is not to take place... how could they? We have numbers... we now have the technology and the means to wipe them off this world. But their gateway into our planet is through Europe. We will seal it."

"With a bomb that weights 27,000 kilograms?" Skorzeny asked. "With my calculations, that seems highly inefficent and would only succed in maybe killing a single ultra-heavy class."

"You think too small my friend." Malcolm replied. "This is no ordinary bomb. It's death. The destroyer of worlds. Imbue it with my power... and it will be just that."

"I know very little on the subject of explosives..." Skorzeny said... somewhat regretful over this rather meager flaw.

"Doesn't matter. As long as you can turn an entire Neuroi infantry division into bright shards and keep everyone in line, what you do and don't know will have little impact on our success... save of course... the strategy and the solution itself."

"Very well." Skorzeny said, the big man standing up and throwing his superior a salute. "I go now to handle the situation."

"Good luck." Malcolm smiled as he looked at the rest of the 501st out in the hanger which his room overlooked. As Skorzeny left however, Minna would come in.

"Yes?" Malcolm asked as he sat back down. A small delay.

"General... we've comfirmation that the Berlin Hive is indeed of the Super-hive classification." Minna said. "I..."

"You must have doubts Colonel." Malcolm commented as he grabbed a bottle of wine, pouring a glass for Minna. "Take it. It's very good."

"Thank you." Minna said as she took the glass. "I just didn't want to believe it."

"I see. A Karlslander obviously wouldn't want to know that her home is being occupied by the most dangerous foe this planet will ever have to face." Malcolm said as he watched Minna carefully. There was something else wasn't there?

"And another thing... I was wondering if well... the 501st may see deployment TEMPEST's offensive."

"How did you know about that?" Malcolm asked. His voice with a trace of a threat. There wouldn't be much need for threatening however, not when there was a fully loaded gun right in his desk.

"I overheard it..." Minna said awkwardly... realizing she practically just said she had been eavesdropping on the conversation between Skorzeny and Malcolm. "Last night that is..."

"Oh..." Malcolm said as he calmed down slightly. Good. "In that case... by all means, I figured the 501st would not want any small contribution to the war. In that case... you'll have your share of the glory." The man said with a chuckle.

"Thank you." Minna said as she got up and left. Something was wrong here...

Malcolm wasn't angry over the fact she'd been listening. No. Nor the fact about WHEN she was listening. Her statement of last night erased and traces of hostility from him the moment she told him. He'd been angry when Minna didn't tell him WHEN she was listening.

What were they just talking about?

Forget it. It's not in a Karlsland soldier's business to be digging into her superior's.

* * *

"Luca... I have a question." Erica asked as the two landed back in Wolfenstein's hanger.

"Say it."

"What's your familiar?" Erica asked. "You see... mine's the Dachshund. But... what's yours? I can't tell."

"I don't have a familiar." Luca replied. "You see... I think the thing about me being a male witch is that I don't really need a familiar."

He didn't need a familiar. And even if he tried... there would have been no way he knew he could get one the same way a regular witch could. But there was one person who had a familiar...

He looked up at his father's office and saw his dad looking down on them.

He knew how to get one. But would Malcolm really tell him?

No. He wouldn't. The subject of how Malcolm as much as acquired his familiar would cause the man to avoid anyone for the rest of the day. Yet... in all these years, Luca had wanted nothing more than to know.

What was his Father's familiar? How did he get it? Did it have anything to do with how...

"Luca!" Erica called. "I heard Yoshika is making dinner for us! You don't want to miss it!"

"Alright... I am coming!" Luca replied as he looked back up at his father, who wore about as much emotion as a pile of bricks.


	10. Chapter 10

"Ah tried tellin this here man. Bless your heart old boy... because if the general orders it, this here gun is going to blow that stupid face right off your head!" Custard threatened as he laughed nastily. "But... who knows? Maybe if the good general thinks that'd make a mess... I'll beat you like a rented mule boy!"

"Enough." Malcolm said. Even without Major Custard having a shotgun straight at his head, the two guards by the entrance would be enough to send alarm bells of danger through anyone's head. The distinct red goggles that TEMPEST employed on it's foot soldiers coupled by the black uniforms would make them look like demons in complete darkness. Aside from being threatening when worn, the goggles themselves had a vital function. Detecting Neuroi cores and enhancing user eyesight. "State your business here and hope to god that I don't have the Major tear you in half."

"Y...y...yes sir..." The nervous courier said as he handed Malcolm the letters. "This if for Lieutenant Lucas Prospero." Inwardly, the courier slapped himself across the face. Shit! What was he doing handing the letter to _Malcolm Prospero?_ The Malcolm Prospero?! What if he thought that he was making a mistake? What if...

"Yeah... I'll deliver this to my son." Malcolm said coolly. "Get him out of here."

Continuing to prod the courier, the big man grinned nastily as he grabbed the smaller man by the collar and dragged him out the same time that Erica and Luca would pass through the hallway.

"Huh?" Luca looked as the giant of a man walked out with his luggage in tow who was probably getting strangled at the moment. He turned around quickly to throw his father a salute.

"Returning from duty sir." Luca said as Malcolm hardly acknowledged him, only handing him the letter.

"This is for you." Malcolm replied. "Other than that, I have no duties for you."

Luca nodded knowing what the hidden meaning behind it was. "Get out of here." "Go do your own thing." "Don't bother me."

"Let's go..." Luca said as Malcolm turned his back to speak with Skorzeny and two unfamiliar officers. A Karlsland naval officer from the uniform, and a Suomus officer who wore a white hood that normally would have reminded him of the ARCHER armor had he actually seen it with his own eyes.

"Who are those people?" Erica asked.

"Hush... best no ask that." Luca said. His dad didn't take kindly to snooping or the overly curious.

* * *

The room where the 501st would be eating in, was thankfully comprised of the more tame and mannered men within TEMPEST. The one's that held respectable ranks and demeanors though this would hardly be any comfort if anyone truly knew that many of these Colonels and Majors prided on having regiments comprised of some of the most brutal soldiers on the planet and would gladly tear anyone's throat out to prove it if the situation asked for it (Thankfully, here it did not). It would be even less comforting to many people if they found out TEMPEST, the organization possessing the most advanced technology on this planet save for the Neuroi were more interesting in killing Neuroi than saving the world. Some of the less pleasant or less sane members of the organization were just more interesting in killing. Period.

"Thank god we have Yoshika to cook for us." Francesca began. "The food here! Man! Luca! Is your dad's friend... colonel... deathshead or whatever always so grumpy because he never had a good meal in his life?!"

Grumpy? Definitely not grumpy. He was calm and cold yet brutal when the time asked. The things that TEMPEST wanted for it's higher ranking officers to manage the psychopaths and degenerates that would gladly tear each other apart. Perhaps this went to show how efficient TEMPEST's officers truly were. Criminals, murderers, psychopaths, all reformed into perhaps THE most disciplined army on this planet through it's higher-ups.

"Yeah..." Luca began. "Skorzeny's a good commander though." _And a scary badass_.

"Minna's the best." Erica commented.

"Thanks." The colonel replied as she dug into her food. Fuso... mmmm.

"I've never actually had anything Fuso before..." Luca said as he looked at his food. "Ummmm..."

"Curry rice." Erica said. "Really good stuff..."

"Alright." Luca said as he took his spoon and dug in. It was holiday for his taste buds. "Wow... this is... great!"

"Knew you'd love it!" Yoshika said. "Thank you!"

"Welcome." Luca said as he continued to eat, hardly noticing that Malcolm was approaching their table slowly. He took the hint when he saw Barkhorn mouthing words to him.

"Sir!" Luca said as he stood to attention and went ramrod straight in about two seconds flat.

"I didn't ask for you." Malcolm said coldly, his face carrying less expression that a rock though radiating more danger than an entire Neuroi hive. "Sit down."

_And I thought the winters in Suomus were cold_. Eila thought as she saw Malcolm approach her and Sanya. Not many things in this world could make her nervous, but this... this guy did.

"General?" Sanya asked nervously.

"Flying officer Litvyak is it?"

"Yes." Sanya replied. Truth be told, she wasn't listening to him, her mind was racing about what she had just heard Malcolm say. Rather, it was the way he said it. The same way a prison guard would act towards any inmate. "But... please call me Sanya."

"Alright then." Malcolm said as a smile spread to his face, which shocked the entire table save for Luca who could see a rehearsed smile. "I need you on night patrol. Can you do it?"

"Yes sir."

"Goo..."

"I volunteer to go with her!" Eila practically shouted, causing the entire mess hall to go deathly still. Many of the officers in the room looked over, a few shaking their heads in disapproval, a few grinning wickedly with anticipation only to realize it had been Malcolm and not "Deathshead".

"Very well then." Malcolm said, his sharp hearing picked up a few silent groans and sighs. If Skorzeny had been here, Eila would have been better being out naked in a snowstorm with a capital class Neuroi after her. He left the table without another word. Only when he left the room did any conversation return.

"That... that was... that wasn't very nice." Lynette commented. "He's your father... and..."

"Oh hush... he shouldn't have been so impulsive... his father wouldn't ALWAYS ask him for something..."

"Perrine..."

Luca said nothing. Only picked at his food. He wasn't used to getting sympathy, and wasn't sure if he should say thanks or remain silent. After all these years, he did what he would do normally. Say nothing.

"You lived with that guy?" Shirley asked. "How?"

"We never spoke... almost never." Luca said as he continued playing with his food, his appetite all of a sudden had deserted him. "I...I..."

He wanted to cry. But he never did, and never will. That would be a sign of weakness... and here in front of his new squadmates, that could not be accepted. Not by himself, and sure as hell not by his father.

"I...I am fine." Luca said as he fought back his emotions. "It's just that... he gets a bit wound up sometimes... after my mother died on Berlin in 1939, he's always been like that... it's fine..."

It wasn't fine. It sure as HELL wasn't fine.

But no one said anything, only listened to his senseless babbling. Luca lost his mother in 1939, September 1st. That was the undisputed fact that the world knew. What no one knew was that on 1939, September 8th, he had lost his father too.

Speaking of his father... he had a letter... who was it from though? Most of his former comrades were well... dead... and those still alive aren't probably going to be in any condition to write letters at their leisure. Curious, he opened the letter.

He didn't recognize the name. But Yoshika did. So did Lynette. And Perrine. And if she was here, Mio would have known it too.

Anna Ferrara


	11. Chapter 11

Luca sat on his bed within his room, looking out the window at the heavily forested area that surrounded Castle Wolfenstein, behind that was the alps. Unbeknownst to even him, many of the mountains had been hollowed out, creating mighty fortresses and vast factories that would make TEMPEST's warmachine to use against the Neuroi.

"I didn't ask for you... I didn't ask for you..." Those words. Kept ringing within his head. They meant just so much more than how Malcolm hadn't asked for his son to stand up when he had approached them at dinner. No. Those were probably the words in the back of his head when Luca was born. He'd always been perfectly happy with Luca's mother, those two were a match in heaven... but as the old saying goes, two is company, three is a crowd.

He wondered back to his early childhood. How Malcolm was actually somewhat fatherlike. Actually acted like he cared about him. Was it genuine back then? He didn't know, he didn't remember. In truth, he didn't want to know. His father wasn't stone cold then.

He recalled his mother, his favorite person in the entire world. She was always kind to him, loved him with all her soul. And the sad thing was... he never got say good bye. She was gone in an instant when the Neuroi came.

The thoughts of his mother brought tears to his eyes, coupled with the thoughts of how his father still lived, but his dad died with her. Here... alone... he finally began to cry silently, his tears streaming down his cheeks as he continued to remember the good times. Before the Neuroi. When he had a family. When there WAS a family.

The door creaked open and he had the sounds of footsteps, nervously, he hoped that his father wouldn't see him crying.

Erica?

Now... Luca wished he was dead.

"Umm... hi..." He said awkwardly.

"Hey." Erica said, looking at Luca who looked like he'd been crying his eyes out (which he had). "Are you alright."

"Yeah... yeah..." Luca replied. "I... I... I am used to it."

"I doubt it." Erica replied. "I... I hope you don't mind me asking."

"Sure."

"Was it true your mother died on the first day? September 1st, 1939?"

"It is." Luca said. Though he never got the chance to see it happen, he was glad he didn't. There wasn't even a corpse left to bury. Though... Malcolm had saw it. Every last bit.

"Can you tell me what happened? It... that's alright..."

"Well... I can... but this letter..." Luca said as he looked at the letter from a certain Anna Ferrera. "I need to see this..."

* * *

Minna sat down on the long meeting table, across from Colonel Skorzeny, or as many people would call him, "Deathshead". For the first time today, he would be seen without his skull mask, nervously she looked at the man who looked back, making eye contact with him was like staring into the eyes of a demon. His face distorted into an unamused mask of disapproval. It seemed as though he was permanently locked into a frown.

More people would walk in, they were merely just the first to arrive.

A tall Karlsland naval officer would be a notable individual from the masses, at least to Minna that is when the moment he saw her, his face went from emotionless to a look of displeasure in moments as he walked by Minna without as much of a glance, sitting as far away from her as possible. The disapproval was more than evident in this officer. His name was Karl Fraken. A long line of Karlslandian naval officers.

There would be more. A silent Suomus who wore a white mask that covered the lower sections of his mouth and a hat that covered his hair and the upper portions of his head, revealing only pieces of his face. "White Death" the locals of Suomus called him. Rumored to have shot over 705 Neuroi armed with nothing but an ordinary rifle. He was like a ghost, almost as though he existed from another plane. He said nothing this entire time.

Another notable individual would be a massive Liberian. Standing at almost 8 feet tall and about as wide as a wall, the big man towered even over Skorzeny who towered over the rest of the men and women in this room. Major Custard, a man who had a reputation of efficiency and violence.

There would be many others attending, though none would be as noteworthy as these individuals. They would have their large roles to play.

"Ladies and Gentlemen... as you all know, the war in Europe will take a long time... an understatement should I say... because estimations of many experts say even if things go as well as they possibly could, it could be another 5 years before we win this war. If the Neuroi however... are to adapt... and to evolve to combat whatever we are doing, like for example, the Neuroi witches... than it may be another ten, twenty, thirty, maybe one hundred years before we can defeat them! Or worse yet... we may not win at all! We would be wiped off the face of this earth, no longer the masters of this world."

Murmurs went around the room at the possibility of losing the war. The outcome would be the total annihilation of humanity without a doubt.

"So..." Malcolm began. "We... TEMPEST have been assigned the task of making sure we win this war, and we it fast and permanently!" Malcolm began. "The allied nations of the world spill their blood across the four corners of Europe, but yield no results! This my friends, can not go on! We cannot lose the lives of our bold soldiers as though they are nothing!"

Nods and smiles went across the room, people were liking this. Good.

"So... we here at TEMPEST have devised many ways to combat the Neuroi and that is why we will need the support of you and the allied nations if we are to win this war."

"Sounds good and all General..." The representative of Liberion said as he stood up. "But... Liberion and the world demands results. We have heard reports of tests and great things. You promised us weapons and soldiers who will win this war. Deliver on it..."

"Very well than." Malcolm began. "How fortunate for me that in roughly 18 hours, the Neuroi will be launching a major counter-offensive against all our forces. Than perhaps you would like to see the true power of TEMPEST's creations?"

"I would love to. In fact, I would actually ask for a front row seat." The rather arrogant representative said as he stood up. "What about you gentlemen?"

Anyone that wasn't from TEMPEST within this room began to nod their heads in agreement. What good exactly were super-soldiers and fast planes if they wern't going to be using them?

"Then I assure you gentlemen, you'll have quite the show. Lt. Colonel Minna!"

"Yes sir?" Minna asked as she stood up.

"Would you be honored to test a new generation of Striker units?"

"Very well sir." Minna said as she sat back down. Malcolm smiling like cheshire cat. "Now then... tomorrow..."

* * *

"Something about my father?" Luca asked to himself as he read the letter over. "I don't even know who this person is..."

"Maybe someone else does? I heard Anna Ferrera used to train witches... something like that."

"Yeah... maybe I should ask the Commander? Or maybe..."

"Anyone actually. I heard Yoshika actually went training with her... why don't you go and ask her?"

"Alright then." Luca said. "This... Ferrera character wants us to meet in... well... this is really... um..."

A cottage out in the Gallian countryside? Huh. Apparently... where no one would know... something along those lines.

Something was fishy here... though Luca...

He had to go see what this was all about. If it was regarding Malcolm, then it had to be important. But speaking of that subject... should he tell him? And better yet... how would he get permission to go the way to Gallia for a few hours or maybe days?

He sat on his bed as he began to think to himself. Erica watching him for a moment, before her eyes caught something. A family photo.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey Shirley!" Francesca said energetically within the massive hangar as she jumped on her older friend, knocking the Liberian to the ground.

"Hiya." Shirley replied as she got up and ruffled her younger friend's hair, blissfully unaware of all the stares that she got from many of the engineers, pilots and soldiers within the room. "Howya doing?"

"Bored." Francesca said as she put on her "unhappy" face. "I wish if the General could give us a patrol assignment or something. It's not fair, why is it that Erica and Luca actually get to do things?!"

"Sanya and Eila got patrol duty last night. Besides, it's not too bad." Shirley said as she got up and went back to the table which had several sheets of paper.

"What is that?" Francesca asked. Shirley wasn't exactly known to be someone who loved paperwork... or anything that really had to do with papers to begin with. "Are you drawing?"

"Drawing?" Shirley laughed. "Of course not."

"Then.. what are you doing?" Francesca asked as she looked over her shoulder, the papers and such that covered the table detailing things like Striker units, airplanes and engines.

"Someone left this out." Shirley replied as she looked at the skeleton of a plane. "Finally! A plane without a tarp! I was wondering what they were doing anyways. I think they're building one!"

"Cool." Francesca said as she looked at the plane. "What do you it does?"

"I actually don't understand this thing at all..." Shirley said as she looked at the papers again, it looked as though everything was written in code. "But... whatever... I just want to see the pictures. Apparently, these things are going to be FAST."

"That's good." Francesca said, knowing how much her friend is going to love anything in that department. "So... okay. I am still bored."

"Yeah...yeah..." Shirley replied dismissively as she looked at the plane again. Even though it was nothing more than just a skeleton of a plane, it still looked rather neat. Just the design of it all. Almost as though they took a Neuroi and turned it on their side and made it pilotable.

"Overlords 137 through 159 inbound... all hangar personal, prepare for drop." The male voice over the intercom said over the entire hangar. Moments later, a large... what... how could anyone even describe this?

The aircraft looked hardly aerodynamic for one. It's tiny little wings should NOT have been able to allow it to fly... two... it didn't even have a propeller! Or a turbine! Or anything that seemed to be able to actually allow the thing to move. Strangely however, when active, the aircraft was able to hover for a few inches above ground before what could be assumed to be landing gear deployed. Four pads that spread out alongside the machine.

"Whoa..." Shirley said as she looked at the plane. "Now... that's a cool plane..." Was it even a plane actually? Whatever... it was... pretty awesome actually!

"I wanna see! I wanna see!" Francesca said as she practically climbed on top of Shirley, perching upon her shoulders and taking a look at the strange new aircraft in the hangar. Instead of someone opening the doors, they opened by themselves, just like that. From the vessel, several men came out, carrying crates and such which they loaded on a forklift to be sent somewhere.

"Hey you there..." One of the masked soldiers said as he spotted Yeager and Lucchini looking over at the plane. "Help unload... there's about twenty two more coming in."

"Twenty two more?" Lucchini asked. Just like that, eight more of the same kind of aircraft flew straight into the hangar, many of them were carrying men who were busy unloading wooden crates, while a few of them dropped off steel containers which were moved by truck and taken elsewhere. "Oh no..."

"Hey... you wanted to do something..." Shirley chuckled as the two picked up a heavy crate. "What do you think is in this anyways?"

"Something heavy!" Francesca complained as the two followed the men into dropping off the crates. If they had been on any of the planes (rather... this would be an incorrect term. Perhaps hovercraft would be more suitable due to the nature of the flight, derived off of Neuroi propulsion systems but that wasn't the important thing.) What was the important thing was this morning, all the crates would have been marked with many sticky notes entitled.

"ASCENSION"

"I dunno." Francesca said as she grunted at the weight. "I just hope they are at least worth this trouble!"

To Malcolm and to TEMPEST, they would be more than just worth the trouble.

* * *

The hovercraft moved fast. Way too fast actually to the point where the Commander of the 501st hardly even had time to react to them going in for the strafe run against the Neuroi ground forces. An entire column of the enemy, obliterated in moments. Something that the allied armies of the world normally found themselves to be on the receiving end of. And yet... the tables have turned as TEMPEST threw in another gunship wave, the hovercraft letting loose a literal hailstorm of gunfire that shredded the smaller variants. A few well-placed guided missiles will see to the rest.

It had just occurred to many that perhaps... TEMPEST had outdone the alien menace. That not only had it done that... but they had outdone them to the point where even the Neuroi would begin to find themselves out of their depth. The ground forces of the aliens were powerless against TEMPEST's air force.

Minna frowned to herself. Something about this... something about this didn't quite sit right with her as she watched the Overlord dropships send off a wave of men in black. The fact that this one organization had access, and they were the only ones with access to the most advanced technology on this world didn't quite sit well with her. She looked back down as the infantry column of TEMPEST swept up what was left of the Neuroi, taking very little damage to themselves in the process.

Neuroi ground forces: The bane of all infantry units in the world since 1917 were being made fools of by mere men in black uniforms and glowing goggles. The tracer rounds flew through the air, making their marks at the important cores of the Neuroi. It would be all over in very little time as the aliens began to pull back. By a tactical standpoint, this battle was a minor skirmish. A few infantry and medium variants of the aliens along with no air force faced against a single gunship wing and infantry company of TEMPEST. Though... this one battle was just enough. TEMPEST had outdone the Neuroi. If this was the smallest TEMPEST could offer... what possibly could their large things accomplish?

And that's what didn't sit well with Minna. Why isn't this technology being made use by ALL the nations of the world? Why is it that TEMPEST is the only who uses it? And why is it that Malcolm seemed upset over the fact that Minna would even have a slight hint at any of their operations or projects?

They were shady... that's just it. Shady and secretive. It was Trevor Maloney all over again. A man who wielded far too much power for his own, or for the world's good.

Malcolm would easily disagree with both parts... and perhaps the former of the two would be doubted by Minna as she saw Major Custard pin down a group of infantry variants that vaguely resembled that of humanoids. The larger variants, the counterpart of what a tank may be to the allied nations resembled that of large spiders.

It looked like that TEMPEST had things from here as this detachment of the Neuroi began to pull back. Her fists clenched as she saw the dark shape approaching from the sky. A heavy class... damn... she didn't like the fact that she may have to solo the mechanical monstrosity.

She never got to. But it did.

Out of the blue... what seemed like a Neuroi witch flew straight into the Heavy class. A large sniper rifle in it's hands, casting the shadow of doubt in Minna's mind to what it was. Another one of TEMPEST's creations?

Radio chatter confirmed the last part. MERLIN... something like that. The man aimed the sniper rifle straight at the Neuroi and pulled the trigger. If anyone could slow down time to view what had happened, they would have seen the bullet shred through the hull and make a bullseye straight for the core, as though the hooded man knew exactly where it would be located. What few people knew at the time was that, Malcolm, underneath his hood, DID know where the core was. He always would.

Minna could only look uneasily. She had been here to provide "air support" for TEMPEST. Yet all they did was show one thing.

She wasn't needed. This was Maloney all over again. Or from what seems looked like... TEMPEST had full control over what they were doing.

Whether or not that was better or worse, she didn't know. She just didn't know.

* * *

Luca landed at the old village in Gallia, a place that was surprisingly untouched by the Neuroi which would provide solace to him for the time being. The last thing he needed was to have the aliens come and take him by surprise. No matter what the expectations were from all the people around him, he was only average when it came to destroying the Neuroi. If anyone wanted a high bar, they should go see his father... that is... if they were allowed to and had proper clearance.

Looking around, he found the address and to his surprise, the door of the house was unlocked. He would be met with a fairly comfortable looking home, and the voice of an old woman.

"Gosh darn it... don't young people know how to knock these days?"

"Hello? It's me... Luca... Mrs... Ferrara I presume?" Luca said softly as he saw the old witch.

"Ah! Yes!" The old woman replied as she down. "Please... have some tea with me..."

"Okay... you said in your letter you had something about my father?"

"Well... of course! But slow things a bit down... shall we?"

"What?"

"Nevermind... young people these days..." The old woman grumbled. "Here... let's start straight to the point. Skip the pleasantries. Chances are, I know about you... and you probably know nothing about me. Let's keep it that way."

Well...

"So... let's start from the beginning."


	13. Chapter 13

Within the hidden room of his stateroom, Malcolm peeled off his hood and sighed lovingly at his collection, taking off ARCHER the man took another moment to sit down and take a look at his collection. Armor sets and weapons from history. The cloak of an ancient Babylonian shaman, despite being made out of nothing but an animal pelt, the cloak had yet to show any signs of wear or tear. Whether or not it belonged to a male witch, which were very common back in the day, or a female one, Malcolm had no idea though he would rather not wear it. Dark pacts had been made when humanity were still foolish fledglings to sentience and magic, whatever this cloak did, he didn't want to know. What caught his eye this umpteenth time during his stroll around his personal armory was Reppumaru, the Fuso sword made by Major Mio Sakamoto, formerly of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing before her reassignment.

He looked at the blade for a moment, wondering what to do with it. He liked swords, loved them actually and had an affinity with the blade. Though... despite the excellent crafted blade he now held... he almost regretted the fact that he wouldn't be using it. It'd be a shame to leave such a fine blade to just collect dust within his armory though...he considered... he stepped back into his office the moment he heard the knock. Moving quickly, he shut the hidden compartment and opened the door.

"Yes?" Malcolm asked as he saw Ursula. "What is it?"

"So... I've finished the designs. And so... we're going to be putting this boat in the water now... I hope you like it." Ursula said as she handed him the folder. "What do you think sir?"

He looked it over for a moment. Okay... okay... everything looked fine. A range that would be able to carry a bomb from Britannia to Berlin. Good... good.

"Looks good." Malcolm said as he handed the folder back to Ursula. "As usual, you do not disappoint."

"Thank you sir..." Erica said as she picked up the folder, unwittingly grabbing the tip of another one. When she got up, she sent several sheets of paper flying all across the ground.

This only would have annoyed Malcolm if the big words "CONFIDENTIAL" were not slapped across the one Ursula just spilled. Even then, he would have only been slightly impatient. His eyes widened when he saw one of the papers.

OPERATION: UNDERTAKING.

Thank god for the black ink and the code. Or else...

"I am so sorry!" Ursula said as she panicked. "If I..."

"Just get out." Malcolm sighed as he got up to fix this mess, hoping that Ursula didn't see anything. Even if she did, hopefully she saw nothing that she would actually be able to understand.

The only thing that caught Ursula's eye was a map of Europe. A red arrow pointing from the English channel to Berlin. And the words "Long Bow".

* * *

"You currently. You are the only male witch in existence that the public knows about." Anna began. "Secrets... your father... he has so many... too many."

"I know." Luca began as thoughts of TEMPEST, ARCHER and MERLIN began to fill his mind. TEMPEST was never straightforward with anyone, and to this day, he still wasn't sure what the research group actually was doing save for telling the public they were building weapons to end the war.

"Are you aware that your father, Luca... is the most dangerous thing on this world?" Anna continued.

The fact that he single-handedly destroyed a Neuroi nest in the alps? Yes. He most certainly was.

"I am aware... why are you telling me this?" Luca asked.

"Patience boy... do you know how... or why?"

Because... he was a cold bastard, had the most powerful military organization at his command and was like most male witches, wouldn't lose his powers when he was above the age of most witches. That... and his own unique ability was easily the most powerful tool against the Neuroi.

"Yes... it's his ability." Luca began. "He can tap into the mind of a Neuroi and learn about it's secrets. He can even create a disturbance in it's mind to prevent it from functioning properly."

_After all, how else would TEMPEST have captured so many Neuroi cores with ease or managed to acquire new technology so quickly? MERLIN was behind it all. His ability to prevent a Neuroi from functioning properly was invaluable to TEMPEST. _

"That's not just it." Anna began. "Do you know your father Luca?"

Truth be told? He didn't. Only two things. His father was stone cold and, his father was the scariest badass on the planet that no one knew about.

"I don't." Luca said. "Six years ago... I thought I did... but..."

"When your mother died, your father left for about six months... correct?" Anna asked. "And when he came back... he was just as distant as ever. You felt as though he wasn't even there. Which is partly why you went to the military because A. back at your hometown, you never had a lot of friends, B. you wanted to fight for your dead mother, and C. because in the military... you thought you'd find something you never had. A family. Have you found one Luca? Among the 501st?"

"I just met them! I can't judge!" Luca replied. "Mrs. Ferrara... please... what is the point of this."

"Alright... alright..." Anna began. Enough was enough. She had to get to the point. "You have to be careful of Malcolm."

"Wait... why? He's my father... I know that he's a pretty awful one at that but I..."

"Luca... there are things that are never meant to be heard by mortal ears. Which is why I cannot say... but you must understand at this current day and age, if half of the things that they say are true about your father... then the world, not just the Neuroi will pay dearly when his hand is forced."

"Who's they?" Luca asked suspiciously.

"They? I cannot say." Anna chuckled. "But they'll come to you. Eventually. For now however... go home... we'll speak more later."

To put into prescriptive what he got out of this meeting and how he felt...  
Nah. He decided to say nothing. Because right now... this would be a few hours of his life he would probably never get back.

* * *

Malcolm sat down to the small table at the battlements of the castle, the view was perhaps easily the nicest thing there was here. In front of him, a bottle of rich champagne was placed down over the silken table cloth. Across from him, sat a familiar Britannian officer who probably hadn't had any appetite considering the cold look Malcolm was giving him.

Yoshika and Lynette both clenched their teeth at the sight of him. Perrine chuckled inwardly as he saw Malcolm's cold glare burn holes into Maloney's soul, who had been glaring at the members of the 501st but was now reduced to a nervous wreck at the sight of Malcolm and Skorzeny, a man that even Maloney knew as "Deathshead."

"So... Air chief Marshall..." Malcolm began, his voice poisonous as he poured Maloney a glass of wine. Yoshika and Lynette both placing down the utensils in front of the Malcolm. "I hope you're hungry..."

"I am... I already ate. By the way General... it's just Air Marshal now..." The RAF officer said as he saw the rather... extravagant meal that had been prepared for the two. (Technically, he was an Air-vice Marshall, but the term was applied generically.)

"Suit yourself." Malcolm said as the food was placed in front of him and just for him. The aroma of it all would water any man's mouth, though at the current moment, being face to face with the head of TEMPEST made him want to vomit. "I would like to thank you now and here for... um... borrowing our equipment for your warlock. I understand that you're scientists and research team were mere amateurs... but nevertheless... was it their failure to prepare for what they would be dealing with, or your preparation to fail with what you would end up doing?"

Yoshika giggled inaudibly. When they had heard that Maloney would be coming here... she probably would have jumped out the window. When they heard that he would be meeting with Malcolm, she may have been indifferent until she realized Malcolm had been in relative foul mood for nearly the entire day. She really needed to hear this.

"So... like I said... you really did well to prepare. Prepare to fail that is. Your machine was a joke. It failed, and it nearly killed all the men aboard a Fuso ship after it went AWOL. As well as an entire Joint Fighter Wing which had been assigned here." Malcolm began. "But you know what lost it's humor long ago? You and your superiors, believing yourselves to be competent men, and the fact that I was told you'd be assigned with me as my new officer for all TEMPEST air based operations within Europe."

Yoshika wasn't sure whether or not she should celebrate or maybe following up with the jumping out of the window. Maloney? In command of the 501st? That would be a total disaster since the man surely held a grudge. On the plus side... he'd be answering to Malcolm, who after this conversation, turned out that had been on the receiving end of a certain theft of Neuroi-based technology.

"Make no mistake Air Marshal."Malcolm began. "I do not wish to hear ANYTHING about you undermining MY operations anymore. If I do... you will wish... you will wish that they gave you a court martial."

Trevor nodded as he looked behind him. A man in a white cloak stared back at him underneath his mask. Getting up, he quickly got out of sight, not wanting to be anywhere near Malcolm.

"Hey... you three." Malcolm began. "Pull up a chair, each of you."

"Sir?" Perrine asked with disbelief.

"There's more food actually. Would you like some?" He asked with a rather fatherly tone. This... no one saw coming.

"Well... um... sure actually!" Yoshika said excited. She got to have a meal with a general!

"Yes! Sir! Thank you... sir!" Perrine said as she sat down with her two friends. "Did anyone ever say..."

As the four had their meal, Maloney glared back from behind a corner on the battlements. His fists clenched and he bit down on his teeth so hard it hurt. Minna was behind this. Most definitely. The witch held a grudge didn't see? She wanted all of this huh?

He had heard that Lt. Lucas Prospero had been assigned with the 501st. It wouldn't have been a stretch to think that Minna... always wanting her revenge on Trevor would have asked Lucas to have his father pull a few strings? Must have been a double whammy for them. Lucas got to be with his father, their precious joint fighter wing likely to be treated like royalty when a high ranking officer and a family member was involved, and here he was. They were intent on making his life miserable... or worse.

Malcolm had said one thing that Trevor remembered. He failed to prepare. Which meant, he had prepared to fail.  
He had a plan this time. If the 501st was intent on giving him hell, he would give them no quarter.

Imagine his surprise, and the surprise of Minna when they both turned a corner and bumped into each other.


	14. Chapter 14

Malcolm sat down to take a look at the shipped crates, cracking of them open would reveal a striker unit, about 200 of said striker units were shipped in hours ago. A new striker unit that the factories and labs of Faraway land and Liberion had begun to experiment upon and produce. Of course, what good were striker units without their pilots? The 501st would be able to receive these first thing tomorrow morning but as of now, there would be... others... since the 501st didn't exactly comprise of over 200 people.

Grabbing the folder on the desk, Malcolm took a look. Several fighter wings that TEMPEST had marked as "fit", all of them had already been in TEMPEST since the start of the war, though due to the importance of Hawaii, Sicily and the Liberian coast along with a top secret facility in Manchuria, many of them would not ship to Europe until further notice. At this time however, that may change as Malcolm looked over at the roster and grabbed a stamp.

**Sky Fury Squadron: ****APPROVED **

**Demon Hawk Squadron: APPROVED **

**Archangel Squadron: APPROVED **

**Bulwark Squadron: APPROVED **

**Pride of Liberion: APPROVED **

**HYDRA squadron: APPROVED **

**Paranormal squadron: APPROVED **

**Valkyrie squadron: APPROVED **

**Arc squadron: APPROVED ****  
**

**Theta squadron: APPROVED **

Every single one of TEMPEST's fighter squadrons would be approved to receive the new striker units. Hopefully, as the research team had promised, it would make the jet striker made by Karlsland look like a "child's plaything" if what they said was true. Of course, having approved of every fighter wing that TEMPEST had, Malcolm would have to meet with the leaders of said fighter wings. Preferably all at the same time to save himself some time.

Would he call them here to Castle Wolfenstein? Preferably not. Rather, he would fly over to Britannia and meet with them there. How convenient actually... that he would be receiving a personal award from the president of Liberion. Looking at his calendar more carefully, he realized that on that day, it was Luca's birthday. Well then. How about get three things out of the way all at once?

Besides... after all these years... he would need his son in on his grand scheme in all of this. What would Luca's mother want more than to know that their son had a hand in destroying the fiendish Neuroi? She would be very proud.

Malcolm would make sure that happened. He would make sure that Luca made HIM proud as well.

* * *

"So... who's this guy again?" Luca asked as he looked over at Maloney who'd been doing a good job of not making eye contact with either of the Prosperos for the good portion of the day, though he would never dare to do it to Malcolm, the man made a point of shooting a hate-laden glare at Luca whenver the oppurtunity presented itself.

"Trevor Maloney." Erica whispered. "He was an Air Chief Marshal, but I heard they... well... he got demoted back to Air Vice-Marshal. And now... he get's to work here. Did you hear? I heard your dad must really hate this guy."

"Good." Luca said as he began to frown. "I don't like him too much either."

_Something about him..._

"Well... you shouldn't. He's the reason that the 501st got disbanded the first time around. We got back at him by exposing... well what he was really doing and that's how he's back down to Air Vice-Marshal. I was hoping actually they'd court martial him but... you know. Loopholes, rules and all that stuff. Right now... I heard Minna still holds a grudge. And he does too."

"Wouldn't be suprised." Luca commented as she took a look a the Britannian who had prudently chosen to exit the room at the sight of Luca. Or rather, the man behind Luca.

"Luca." Malcolm began, his voice as cold and hard as ice. "I see you have returned. I forgot to congratulate you the other day for a mission done well. Good job."

_Well... this wasn't new. Malcolm congratulating his son in the same tone of voice that he commonly used to warn people that they were going to get killed? Yeah. REALLY supportive it sounds! _

"But... I have little time for idle talk, so I am going to go straight to the point. You got more work ahead of you." Malcolm continued as the three walked around the castle and back onto the battlements, everywhere uniformed guards in black patrolled the area, the security as tight as the average Karlsland military regulation. "Our recon detected Neuroi activity north of here. You know what to do."

"So... any intel on it sir?" Luca asked. He really missed being able to call his father "dad" though... what he REALLY missed was the two of them ACTUALLY having conversations that weren't military related.

"Nothing you can't handle." Malcolm said as he recalled the picture. A single heavy class. "Straight foward, I want this Neuroi dead in two hours, got it?"

"Yes sir!" Luca said as he ran to the hangar. Erica following after.

Malcolm stopped moving for a moment as he watched the pair run.

He felt his eyes beginning to get wet at the sight of it, slowly, he walked away back into his office and took a look at the new ship design.

LONGBOW. A battleship armed with V3 rocket launcher systems that could fire warheads up to 800 miles away. Perfect for delivery system against the Neuroi.

He looked at the photo of his wife again, and smiled. It'll happen. The Neuroi would be finished, and it will be done. For his wife, for Luca and for the world. What history chose to remember him as, it will depend on the outcome of Operation: Undertaking.

* * *

[Rome, Local time: 0100 hours, underground catacombs.]

The catacombs of Rome had history since the 2nd century AD, back in the day, the Christians had used them for burying their dead. As of now however, at the end of the catacombs lay a hidden room where various men in black hoods gathered, humming silent hymns into the death-filled halls.

A lone figure in a similar hood walked in. An old venezian woman holding up several sheets of papers who sat down besides a man in a red cloak, who turned his head to acknowledge her as she handed him the papers which were marked with large red words .

**CONFIDENTIAL **

**Name: Lucas Prospero **

**Age: 16**

**Country of Origin: United States of Liberion **

**Gender: Male **

**Familiar: N/A **

**Striker unit: ****North American P-51 Mustang**

**Weapon: M1919 Browning, Ka-Bar class combat knife**

**Status: Active, serving under the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, currently attached to TEMPEST **

**Bio: The male offspring of both Malcolm Prospero and Rebecca Prospero is currently one of the few male witches serving under the allied nations of the world and known to the public at this current day and age. Starting service in 1942, Lucas has currently displayed no forms of outstanding abilities and preforms much like the average witch. **

**Ability: Detection, Lucas Prospero is able to detect, pinpoint the exact location and variant of Neuroi within a fifteen mile radius. **

**Other notes: Is the biological son of Malcolm Prospero, a high ranking officer of Liberion and current head of TEMPEST. **

* * *

**Name: Malcolm Prospero **

**Age: 42 **

**Country of Origin: United States of Liberion **

**Gender: Male **

**Familiar: Unknown **

**Striker Unit: Unknown **

**Weapon: Unknown **

**Status: Current head of TEMPEST **

**Bio: [CENSORED] **

**Ability: Unknown **

**Other Notes: [CENSORED] **

The man looked over the details for a moment, nodding with satisfaction at Luca's though, definitely not at Malcolm's.

"This possibly can't be ALL the knowledge available to us about Malcolm Prospero."

"Currently is, I am afraid. That man really knows how to cover his tracks!" The old woman said as she took off her hood. Ferrara.

"We need to know more than just this." The man replied.

"We know that Malcolm's Operation: Undertaking will be catastrophic. And that he must be stopped." Anna shot back firmly. "I believe that we must strike while he is not prepared."

"There will be an ideal time. But for now... we need to know more before..."

"Will Luca be spared of this?"

"He will be, so long as he shows no signs of wishing to complete his father's work."

* * *

"Good job on the Neuroi, you two." Malcolm said in his normal tone, which had less emotion than a sack of rocks. "Luca... can you come with me for a moment?"

"What is it, sir?" Luca asked as Malcolm pulled him into his office, he already began to feel himself break into cold sweat.

"I'd... I'd like to wish you an early happy birthday." Malcolm said. "Two days early."

_Wait what date was today? Oh... right... but... **HE REMEMBERED?!**_

"Umm... eh... well... thanks..."

"I am your father Luca. And we're in private. Treat it like for once, we're not soldiers."

"Thanks dad..." Luca said. Wow. For five consecutive years did he not ever get a "Happy Birthday" from his father, only from the occasional close friend he had. Perhaps it was he was too far away... that's how he liked to think of it. Or... what he always dreaded, was that his father didn't care. Did he care at this point? He couldn't even tell anymore. His dad wishing his a happy birthday... hadn't happened in five years.

"Luca... I would just like to say... what I did five years ago, I am sorry..."

"What?"

"I wasn't there for you. I was never there for you. I hope we can change things... there's... we've just never been too close since your mother died... it's been hard on both of us."

_Wow... was he REALLY saying this?!_

"Well... thanks dad..." Luca said.

"Alright. Alright." Malcolm said as he nodded and smiled. Maybe his first real one this entire time in several years. He watched as Luca got up to leave, back to the hangar room with the rest of the 501st.

* * *

"So... how was your day?" Luca asked cheerfully to the rest of the joint fighter wing.

Did... Luca... just... ACTUALLY SOUND CHEERFUL?!

"Awful..." Minna grumbled. "Hey... you know that new guy?"

"Trevor Maloney? Something like that?"

"YEP!" Francesca practically screeched out. "He's the reason that we almost disbanded! AND I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S HERE NOW!"

"Oh don't worry..." Perrine said with her nose held high. "I saw for one that he's going to get what he deserves! General Prospero hates him to the core!"

And what for? Well... as Lucas knew, Maloney did "borrow" from TEMPEST the basics of the Warlock. And now that the warlock got destroyed... the concept of controlling the Neuroi kind of got thrown straight out the window. Or set back about eight years. Either way, one can imagine how Malcolm was not happy.

"Oh... yeah... and isn't your birthday in like two days?" Lynette brought up to Luca. "I saw it on um... the general's little calendar in his pocketbook."

This was really a shocker not just to Luca, but to everyone. For the few days they've been here, they could easily tell about the distant relationship Luca had with his father. Even being his father, it was still awfully surprising to just about everyone that Malcolm would actually write things like that down despite the fact that a father jotting down his children's birthdays was a sort of a given in any situation. Maybe except for Malcolm's.

"Yeah it is." Luca said. "I am turning 18."

"Wow... well... we got to celebrate." Erica said. "You think we can get him a cake?"

"I am not sure..." Minna said skeptically. "It didn't cost that much in Romagna and Britannia, but we're in the middle of Neuroi occupied space and getting things like a cake or even just the ingredients is... well..."

"Going to cost up the ass?" Shirley said. "Now... now... Luca I don't want to be the cynical one or anything... but it's going to cost a lot to get a cake."

"It's fine anyways." Luca said. He was used to it after all. "I think being with my friends will be enough." _Friends. Again. What a good feeling to have... _

And for some odd reason... when he spoke those words. He was glad for the first time, that despite being deep in Neuroi territory, maybe being with TEMPEST wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

"Thank you again. You have no idea how many lives this will save." The old woman underneath the hood said to the small blond girl with a pair of smart glasses. "Why are you helping us though?"

"I saw on his desk... what he's planning this to do." The girl replied as she handed the old woman the folder. "They're going to kill him, aren't they?"

"We must. The world will suffer far worse than ever imaginable if he lives. Thank you again child. You cannot imagine what danger you have put yourself through."

"I understand." Ursula said as she walked away and put on the striker units to fly back to Castle Wolfenstein.

* * *

Malcolm sat down as he opened the letter. In four days, he was to fly to Rome to receive the Legion of Merit from the president of Liberion. In addition, there was another section detailing to Luca, his son. Whomever was putting this show on, it seemed they wanted both the Prosperos to be present.

Nodding to himself, the general heard the knock on the door.

"Come in."

It was Ursula.


	15. Chapter 15

It was rare for Malcolm to take breaks in his line of work, but when he did, his "break" was still aligned with his work. In this instance, he found himself with Luca, Yoshkia and Erica as the trio stood over a large pit at the basement area of Castle Wolfenstein wearing his civilian clothes, a rather fancy two piece suit that probably costed more than some of them men that stood in front of him. Behind, Luca looked over watching the lone TEMPEST Spec Ops officer lay a beatdown on about half a dozen recruits from various different countries. The fight lasted for less than a minute and was pitifully one sided as the lone TEMPEST officer made mincemeat out of the new men, making a point of breaking the arm of one rather overly esteemed soldier.

"Sir... is that truly necessary?" Yoshika asked, rather taken back at the brutality of the trainer.

"Indeed it is." Malcolm said as he leaned over. His bullet-proof vest was easily visible underneath his civilian clothes, a two piece suit straight from Liberion. "I called you here because of your abilities Pilot Officer. I wish for you to attend to these men after this session... though not right now. Luca? If you please."

The boy nodded, he had traded his regular uniform for another one that was similar to standard Liberian issue, only difference was the large flexible yet firm vest that was over his chest. Jumping over and down, he stayed at one side of the pit as more recruits poured in, all eager for blood.

"Is this... really... a good idea sir?" Erica asked. She had almost fallen asleep about a few seconds ago... until Luca had been told to go down there. "I don't think..."

"Depends on who's point of view." Malcolm smiled as he watched the first man rush Luca. The boy ducked underneath his attacker's swinging blow and moved slightly ahead and grabbed him by the arm. A mighty blow to the face and he was down for the count. The rest of his attackers swarmed around him, a bit unsure. Their uncertainty was well placed as Luca swung his fist into one man's gut, sending him down on his knees. Lights out for him when the male witch placed his foot on his head, and practically used him as a staircase before jumping down, sending him flat on his stomach.

"Whoa..." Erica commented as she saw Luca deliver a roundhouse kick to his closest opponent. This was... well... rather surprising... She watched with widened eyes as Luca ducked and weaved away from getting hit with a nightstick, before wrenching it out of his attacker's hands and slapping him straight across the face with the bludgeons and sending him down on his back with a foot straight in the mouth.

She was even more impressed when Luca somehow got himself in a chokehold... now that wasn't the impressive part. What was, was how he used someone else's face as a launch pad to flip his attacker over and knock his teeth out.

They could on... but after a while, it was clear that Luca had this. When every last recruit of TEMPEST was lying down on the ground with some form of physical damage, Malcolm made a small hand gesture.

* * *

"I see you've improved..." Malcolm said. "Tomorrow... I got a particular task for you."

_Oh dear..._

"I need boots on the ground for this part. We've detected a large, entrenched position the Neuroi have set up to attempt to stop the allied advance. See to it that their ground defenses are nothing but their final gestures of futile defiance. Command just two days ago gave TEMPEST the green light. Unlimited resources are at our disposal."

"So... what's the point of having me again... you got unlimited resources and all that..."

"Let's just say... it'll paint a good picture for the boys back at home." Malcolm said. "But anyways... the day after that, which I predict will end in total victory for us, feel free to take the day off. Tell everyone that."

He knew exactly what the reason for it was. And right now... he still couldn't believe it. His father... maybe...

Maybe it was a good thing he got assigned together after all... maybe...

Okay. He was being too optimistic here. He got the day off... after like FOUR YEARS... maybe he really did need a break once in a while... especially after what happened last time...

The very thought of the war in Afrika was enough to have Luca hide under his bed and scramble for cover.

* * *

"Lt. Colonel Minna Dietlinde-Wilcke... she is definitely hell-bent on making my life a disaster!" Maloney screamed to himself as he slapped the papers down on the desk. "First Prospero... and now this?!"

"What is it sir?" His assistant asked gingerly. Ever since being assigned to Castle Wolfenstein, the Air Marshal had always been... well... in rather terrible mood for reasons that involved a Joint Fighter Wing that got him demoted and nearly court martialed as well as a certain General that was not all that pleased with him for his "borrowing" of the Warlock technology. How did he get assigned to BOTH of these parties at the SAME time?!

Well... if you happened to be the 501st. Misfortune. For him obviously, the moment they realized Malcolm had quite the grudge against Maloney, it was perhaps the second best news anyone could have told them except for "We won the war".

If you happened to be Malcolm... reasons were that [HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL. UNAUTHORIZED VIEWING WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE TERMIANTION]

And if you happened to be Maloney... well...

Apparently... Minna held a grudge... and SOMEHOW knew he hadn't been court-martialed... just demoted... reasonable enough right? Because Minna totally pays attention to him. And then... wait a second... had SOMEHOW managed to get Lucas Prospero within the 501st because of his connections with a top brass within the allied armies. Malcolm Prospero... and then... SOMEHOW managed to convince Luca to SOMEHOW coax his father into pulling a few strings to getting the 501st assigned with TEMPEST as well as Maloney getting assigned with them.

Right? Cause this... makes sense... RIGHT?!

Yeah...

Nothing was certain to Trevor Maloney at the moment, save for the fact that he was mad beyond belief. And that he was intent on ensuring that he fixed the 501st up for keeps this time around.

Good thing he was given a role in tomorrow's storming of the Neuroi defenses...

* * *

"Hey everyone!" Luca said as he went back to rejoin his comrades. "How's everyone doing?"

"Great!" Shirley replied. Man... if Luca being with Malcolm would have caused him to be more open... then by all means, they should have thought something to bring those too back together a LONG time ago... (As in... the first day they came here which was like about a week ago but still...) "Hey Luca... can you get your dad to get us some things to... well..."

"IT'S SO BORING HERE!" Francesca practically blasted into Luca's face, causing his hair to actually start waving.

"Whoa there tiger..." Luca said slowly. "It's a good thing we actually do tomorrow..."

"Please tell me it doesn't involve unpacking crates..." The small girl said. "That was BORING too. And HARD!"

"Nah... just old fashioned fighting Neuroi..." Luca began. _Except... I am going to be on the ground... with like a bunch of guys that are about 8 feet tall each and an entire army of crazies... yeah... thanks dad... hopefully this will be quick..._

The night would continue as Luca would think to himself about the new duty he was assigned, and his father. Did he truly care? Even after all these years of not being there for him? What was his purpose? Did he really care about him? Or was this... all part of his plan?

He didn't know. He didn't want to know. For this reason, being in the dark and knowing very little, he slept badly.

Malcolm too would rest poorly that night, for similar reasons. In front of him, laid the large crate shipped from Fuso. The moment he opened it, the once brightly lit room began to have a spot of darkness, similar to how an ill-lit room with a flash light would have a glimmer of light. He looked into the box's content and smiled the same way a child with a new toy would.

Despite this however, he would find no solace in bed as the events of the fateful day replayed again.

1939, September 1st.


	16. Chapter 16

"Pancakes?" Shirley asked as the plates were set and the 501st sat down for breakfast. The sweet smelling cakes were tantalizing to say the least... and she wanted nothing more than to bury her face in them. After all, it smelled just like home, New York... ah New York... Unable to resist, she took a little bit, the corners of her mouth went up and her eyes lit like glowing lamps.

"Oh my... Lynette... these are GREAT! How did you make them?!"

"I... I didn't..." The Brittanian said.

"Then... who did? Yoshika? Cause these are awesome!"

"No... Luca made them..." Yoshika said as the boy came into the mess hall, placing down the last of the pancakes.

"Hey... hope you like them." Luca said as he sat down and grabbed a fork and knife along with a glass of water.

"They're great!" Erica commented with a mouthful of pancakes. "Though... they're... missing something..."

"Yeah... syrup." Luca replied. "I tried getting some... but you know, it would have costed an arm and a leg to somehow get that kind of stuff. Not to mention, I'd have to pretty much order it which would take about a week to get here."

"We understand." Minna said as she finished her first pancake. Man... Luca really knows how to make food, and I mean GOOD food. True... many soldiers had to do their own cooking, but the reputation of many of these cooks were... well... infamous as some may describe. Probably slightly better than Hartmann's cooking. Speaking of which...

"Maybe I should make him breakfast in bed tomorrow..." Erica muttered partly to herself, partly to Minna. "What do you think?"

"Erica... I know it's his birthday and all... but still..." _Erica... I swear... if there's something going on between you two I am going to..._

"I know... I know... but come on! These pancakes are great! And I got to return the favor somehow... and I love cooking! I always wondered... I know back in Britannia and Gallia you said I wouldn't have to, but can I?! Please?! Just this once?! I mean..."

She was babbling. And although Minna wanted to say "no" probably to save Luca from a fate worse than getting murdered by Neuroi... it really wasn't possible. It just wasn't. How could you exactly say "no" to Erica when she was this dead-set on her mind? It just wasn't possible. Hell... even Malcolm couldn't have possibly dissuaded her... EVEN Malcom suited up in ARCHER probably couldn't have dissuaded her... though he probably wouldn't do that for the sake of keeping things quiet.

"So... who's going to tell the General his son died from food poisoning in his bed?" Barkhorn whispered into Minna's ear.

"With luck... I hope he manages to weasel out of eating whatever Erica manages to make." Minna whispered back. _There is definetly something going on between these two... forget the fact that they just met... I swear Erica..._

She leaned back for a moment. Then again... if Luca and Erica somehow managed to... well... have a fall in... were there even rules against that? There was for the ordinary soldier and the ordinary witch... but did these rules apply to a male witch? Due to the fact that there were currently less than a hundred male witches serving in the entire world... it's a no brainer that most people haven't ever heard from them. Nothing was too special about most of them, considering that they were all just ordinary men with magical powers... the only possible things of importance was the fact that they... well... weren't female. Pretty much it.

Of course... if Minna TRULY knew Malcolm... she'd know to think otherwise.

"Don't mind if I join you all?" Malcolm said as he sat down in the lone vacant seat beside Minna. Speak of the devil.

"No, sir." Minna said quickly as Malcolm sat down next to her. Yesterday, for the first time, he had been seen around the base in his civilian clothes. Today, was a little different. He was wearing a similar uniform to that of most Liberian airmen, save for the fact that it was black and had the TEMPEST logo sewn on the arms.

"Alrighty..." Malcolm said as he served himself some pancakes and took a bite. Tasted just like home... tasted just like... Rebecca.

He would sit there and chew for a long time as the memories came pouring back. It would take him a while to regain his composure as he stole a glance at Luca. He always looked like his mother...

"Alright. So I assume you all read the instructions I handed out last night?"

A chorus of nods and "Yes, sir" came around the table... though a few individuals (Francesca) probably should first try to become better readers before better liars.

"Okay then. Now, I didn't write that down, but I will be personally overseeing this operation."

_Wait... what?_

"Sir... is that... a..." Barkhorn began, but chose to shut up instead.

"I think what she was trying to say was..." Perrine continued, though her courage failed her for some unexplained reason. "Ummm... nevermind."

"Wouldn't it be dangerous?" Yoshika asked gingerly, hoping that she wouldn't offend the man.

"Dangerous? Of course!" Malcolm smiled, causing uneasy looks around the table of the 501st, except for Luca for reasons that were obvious to him. "But... I don't think I ever cleared out the alps by hiding behind my desk now did I?"

_No... you put on ARCHER... and took down like... what... eight? Nine? Capital Classes? And then... even WITHOUT ARCHER, you took an entire Neuroi Witch squadron that had been made to specifically hunt you down WHILE you were unarmed. The only danger on the battlefield is you... and I am so glad you are on our side._

"With all due respect sir... but if something was to happen... than the world would be deprived of one of it's most effective commanders." Minna said uneasily. You can't just go out there!"

"I didn't win the alps by hiding behind my desk Lt. Colonel." Malcolm said calmly as he went off. "Besides... nothing would happen. Nothing can happen."

He was right. Even without it, he was already formidable, with it, he was invincible. Going to his personal plane, he opened the seat to check if it was there.  
Good. ARCHER. Just ready for him. The clothes... rather, armor looked back at him.

Normally, such a suit of armor would seem claustrophobic. The way it was put on was akin to how a snake strangled it's prey, by wrapping itself around it. It would surprise many people that this piece of armor was perhaps one of the most comfortable things one could wear, the suit shielded him from the elements and was always warm/cool enough for him to be comfortable and best of all, covered his body so that not even a small lock of hair could possibly escape. It kept MERLIN's identity a secret. Only better was that this piece of equipment enhanced his already impressive abilities, and best of all, unlike most striker units, would not restrict any mobility he had in his legs, allowing him to fight on the ground or in the skies just as well. A must-have when he clashed with Neuroi ground and air forces... or when he fought against members of his own species that had... "disagreements" with his plans for Europe. Faster than any Striker unit and as durable as a tank, ARCHER was his personal tool in the war.

Behind the armor, was the SAGITTARIUS. His personal sniper rifle. Powered by a Neuroi core, the thing could send custom rounds straight into a Neuroi at over 1400 meters at speeds unimaginable. Considering how most of Malcolm's bullets were rigged to explode after hitting their targets, it was easy to see how efficiently he was able to kill the Neuroi. Of course... what satisfaction was there in shooting a target too far for him to see with his own eyes and listen to it's screams of agony with his own ears? It was a good thing he had a sidearm. FLECHETTE, a specially designed pistol that worked the same way as it's bigger brother, save for the fact it was meant for him to be closer. SAGITTARIUS would only be needed when FLECHETTE couldn't handle something.

As of now, there would be a lot to handle as he got ready. The attack would soon begin.

* * *

"I have to say... your dad must be a huge badass if he really intends on going into battle." Shirley commented as she watched Luca grab his things. A pair of combat swords, a TEMPEST made assault rifle, his own sidearm which he had yet to use and a his own KA-BAR knife.

_That's cause he is... _Luca thought as he nodded in agreement. Memories of how Malcolm once beat over 200 recruits in an unarmed fight came to mind.

"So, you're on the ground?" Erica asked Luca as he finished putting on the TEMPEST made vest. If he ever got shot... he MIGHT not have a gaping hole in his chest.

"Yeah... someone's gotta handle the AA." Luca commented. "Though... um... you know that Maloney guy?"

"What about him?" Erica sighed.

"He's... gonna... be handling the air parts of this mission..."

For the love of...

"You got to be kidding me." Shirley commented as she spread the news.


	17. Chapter 17

"Maloney is in charge of the air operations?!" Minna practically screamed. "This... are you..."

"He is..." Barkhorn said with a hefty sight. Life just started to really suck all of a sudden as she felt she was going to throw up. Would have been a shame considering it was pretty good. "And think he's trying to get back on us for Britannia?"

"You think?! You'd think he'd try to get assigned to TEMPEST, the very organization that he stole the Warlock from because he wanted to?" Minna asked rhetorically. It was quite evident, Malcolm hated the man. Stealing the design plans for the Warlock probably set TEMPEST back another few years... though it did beg the question. Not only was there the scandal of Maloney redirecting funds to his project... now there was the fact he had stolen a research project from a separate organization within the allied militaries. HOW DID HE NOT GET COURT-MARTIALED?! HOW?!

Political coverage... corruption... if that's the case, it'd is on it's way to becoming a serious issue. Speaking of serious issues...

"You going to be alright on the ground?" Erica asked Luca for the umpteenth time as the pair walked into the hangar. Ever since the training session with Erica, Luca had made a point of getting more clothing which he was currently wearing. A standard Liberian uniform with a black vest. Resembled more of the armor that was worn by law-enforcers, meant to stop bullets, not Neuroi beams... though like everything else that seemed to come from TEMPEST, there was something "off" about it.

"Definitely. Not like I'd be a major contributor up in the skies." Luca said. An average track record would be proof of that, and chances are, Malcolm probably had a good grasp on his son's painfully average combat capabilities on the air. Did make more sense for him to be with the infantry when all things considered, Luca was a competent man on the ground, if only he shared the same competence in the skies, it wouldn't be surprising to have him over the 100 kill threshold by now.

"Besides... they got you. Best ace in the world." He continued as he looked over at the groups of soldiers standing to attention at the sight of Skorzeny and another officer in a white uniform that he did not recognize. Sumous from the looks of things... the hood made it unable for anyone to see his face. It reminded him much of ARCHER, only thing was, that hood was black.

Speaking of Malcolm...

* * *

"This is rather last-minute." Malcolm said with an annoyed tone within his voice as he descended the hidden elevator within the "janitor's closet" of the hangar.

"I know sir... I know..." Ursula said nervously as the pair descended the elevator. Was it Malcolm's tone that was making her nervous? Of course not. What should have been was that Malcolm hadn't been in the best of moods. Perhaps it was over Maloney but if anyone had paid any attention, it had been even before he received any word of Maloney coming to TEMPEST. No... it was that from his desk, he had been missing several files.

"They told me to tell you that the delivery had arrived." Ursula continued as beads of cold sweat dripped down her neck. "Anyways, I thought you'd want to see it. I was told it was urgent."

"Very well then." Malcolm said as the elevator cranked to a half, revealing the two masked and armed men that scrutinized Ursula carefully, causing her to break into cold sweat. Two other men wearing some rather heavy protective gear overlooking a special box that had the characters written on it:

后羿.

"Ursula..." Malcolm began as a smile began to form upon his lips. It was here... finally. "You are dismissed."

"Sir?"

"Get out."

She sighed with relief as the girl practically sprinted out, back to the elevator. More than happy to be gone from the presence of Malcolm.

Whatever ill mood that he had instantly deserted him in moments as he opened the box. As a lantern in a pitch black room expels the darkness, the pieces within. The hilt was highly decorated with many motives of leering demons carved within. On the other side, was a blade missing it's hilt, a sword of European origin.

The locals within Greece had many names for it. Churches and spiritual men would see it as a rare metal, a treasure... looted from the very treasure house of the devil.

**_Na Tis Miras._**Bringer of the end of times. The vile forces of the dark ether dripped and radiated from the blade as Malcolm held it within his hands, any lesser man would had been flayed. His body torn asunder by the powers of the dark ether, vile energies that even the darkest demons would have to fear. In front of him, a large mirror was placed as he looked straight into his reflection's eyes.

"Lend me your strength... strength..." Malcolm uttered into the mirror as the hilt flew up to connect with the blade. Slowly, the energies of the dark ether poured out, several bolts of raw ether connecting with the men that stood within the room, pulling them forward into the dark miasma of the ether. In an instant, their flesh would be torn away by the ether, as it stripped first their skin, then the flesh below, before consuming their bones, leaving only their skulls as a remainder of what had happened here.

Malcolm looked back to the sword as he wiped the remnants of gore off from his face. He looked at the blade again and smiled. The power of the gods were at his disposal. And this was merely a beginning as his eye went across to a bow upon the wall, made of a similar material. It merely lacked a string.

But of course, that could be done later. He had a Neuroi hive to destroy.

* * *

"Move your hides!" Skorzeny shouted over the din of battle as Luca crouched behind the ruins of a Tiger tank. Above him, a trio of Overlords flew overhead, raining down heavy support fire and missiles upon the Neuroi lines. A lone beam from an AA variant struck the side of the OVERLORD, the state-of-the-art aircraft, or rather, hovercraft was slapped straight out of the skies, hitting the ground hard before exploding into a shower of fire. Besides him, several men in black fired their weapons, the goggles would tell them where to aim.

"We got multiple contacts incoming!" Luca said as he began to sense the approaching Neuroi. From the corner of the eye, he spotted the Sumous officer in white holding a sniper rifle he was unfamiliar with. He watched with awe for a moment as the man disappeared into thin air, the small squeak of a silenced rifle left the air as a Neuroi exploded into a million shards. He looked over his cover as lasers flew around him, striking several men who were unfortunate enough to be in the line of fire. Boy... did he feel sorry for the assault team as he watched the hundreds of armed and armored men break cover, perhaps less than half of them would make it over to the other side. Even with sufficient air and artillery cover, it would be a massacre to the advancing battalions of TEMPEST. The roar of the engines of the TIGER III would provide minor solace to anyone who had the misfortune to be with the assault team.

[Let's be honest... the TIGER III really was just the Tiger II... though Karlsland manufactures claimed over-wise. Aside from heavier armor (which would make almost no difference unless dealing with infantry variants) and a larger gun (which was still a poor weapon of choice against the larger variants). To sum this all up, a TIGER III was essentially a slightly better meat shield for the infantry. When on the subject of TEMPEST infantry, they would have a better chance of killing any heavies encountered.]

"Bomber squadron is on standby." Skorzeny radioed to Luca. "Luca! I want a thorough sitrep on the Neuroi!"

"Multiple AA variants and long-ranged variants. Flyers incoming." Luca replied to the Colonel over the radio despite the fact that Skorzeny (or as he was called "Deathshead") was well in earshot and firing a large HMG that despite it's massive weight and recoil, was easily carried by the man with both his hands, and had seemingly no effect to how he managed to aim such a cumbersome weapon with a large kick. Besides him, a giant of a man under what seemed like a suit of tank-armor stood besides him with a rocket launcher.

"Assault team, my ass!" Another giant of a man commented as he pushed away two smaller soldiers as though they were weightless. Grabbing a bundle of explosives, the man flung the grenades straight at the Neuroi line, consuming several aliens within the blast. The first and second assault waves had both ended in heavy casualties as corpses of men, wreckage of machinery and fallen planes littered the area between the Neuroi and TEMPEST lines. It was however, not a battle without cost for the Neuroi as the entire front ranks of the Neuroi army that opposed them had been completely obliterated. The larger variants that stood behind however, had yet to be touched while the smaller ones within the front were mowed down within moments.

"Assault Teams Charlie and Delta will advance upon my order!" Skorzeny barked as he grabbed a grenade launcher. "Assault team WARLORD will accompany us! Luca! You as well!"

"Understood." Luca replied as he watched Major Custard grab a massive shotgun. He didn't need to see his face to know that the big man was grinning wickedly.

"Air Marshal! Where the hell is our witch support?!" Skorzeny said as he addressed Maloney. (Though Maloney outranked Skorzeny by two degrees, the colonel had no problem expressing any of his true feelings towards his "superior" whom he regarded with spite and addressed with a similar disposition.)

"Busy." Maloney replied. His dripping with malice over the radio. "You're going to have to wait **_COLONEL,_ **or maybe you can start your assault WITHOUT them."

"We can provide SOME assistance, Colonel." Yoshika called over the radio. "We can..."

"Stand down, sergeant." Maloney's voice called over. "You are to hold your position, until I say so."

"But we can..." Minna began. Yoshika had a point considering that the 501st had this dogfight in the bag.

"Are you disobeying orders?!"

"No... no sir..." Miyafuji's voice came back. Where she was, they were dealing with several drone variants and a pair of larger ones... nothing the 501st couldn't handle. Why Maloney was denying Skorzeny any air support, it was anyone's guess but...

"Prospero here." Malcolm's voice called over the radio as the black fighter flew across the skies. "Hartmann, Miyafuji and Juutilainen are to provide immediate assistance to the ground assault team."

"General?" Minna and Maloney both asked with disbelief, depending on who you were, this disbelief was either great or terrible. A close scrutiny of the plane would reveal Malcolm was indeed piloting it.

"What's the holdup Lt. Colonel? I thought I gave you and you an order." Malcolm said coolly as the jet opened fire, the machine guns shredding one of the two large variants into a million bright gems as they struck the core. "You have three more incoming. Take care of them."

"Right... Erica, Yoshika, Eila, go!" Minna said as the three ominous shapes approached them. She watched as the jet flew in a circle, flanked by the three witches.

"That plane is fast..." Shirley commented as she watched the jet having to slow down just to be with it's three companions.


	18. Chapter 18

"You're up against the wall! And I... AM THE WALL!" Custard roared over the sounds of gunfire and Neuroi beams. Despite what seemed like a literal hailstorm of laser beams headed right at him, the big man persisted. Anyone that was still alive from the regular military, and even some members of TEMPEST would find it surprising that when the Neuroi beams struck him, they'd produce little effect. Many would have expected the major to have been outright torn to shreds by the same beams that made tank armor seem like tissue paper, though whatever it was that he was wearing, it certainly worked. If one was to look closely at the WARLORD class of body armors, they'd see that as the beams hit, the armor would rapidly regenerate, saving Custard's skin and organs from going places they didn't belong. Only thing was... whether or not if said event happened, it has still yet to be seen if that would have killed him. No one knew, maybe except for the research teams and the soldiers themselves. The ones that remained conscious during the "tests" that is.

Skorzeny, or "Hades" when referred to, "Colonel" when addressed to, and "Deathshead" behind his back, mumbled his disapproval regarding the Liberian though made no real sign of wanting him to stop. Underneath the skull mask, the tall Colonel watched as Custard sent another shotgun shell straight into a Neuroi, the blast destroying the core, and the lower parts of the body instantaneously. At least the research teams got one thing right. Aiming his grenade launcher, he spotted a larger variant, one of the "turtle" classes as they were called that was busy shredding a few unlucky squads. His goggles soon spotted the core as he took the shot. It would take many tries for him to actually make his mark, but it would be far better than any try the mundane military could give. Any members of the regular military that were still alive could be considered very lucky. TEMPEST's own infantry perhaps could fight Neuroi infantry on equal terms, but even they would be completely helpless against the tank types. They have yet to test any form of armored vehicles that may be of feasible use against the alien menace. As of now, they would have to rely on mundane tanks and armored cars, while hoping that the high-ordinance weapons that the heavy weapons teams were issued would suffice. Luckily for them, the weapons would work just fine. Coupled with the core-locating abilities of the goggles, their job was easier. Perhaps still difficult, but definitely better than anyone else.

Luca gasped with pain as the stray beam struck him in the shoulder. Glancing over, he peeled off the areas of broken vest, hot blood dripping from the wound. At least the vests worked. Had he not been wearing it, it may have taken off his entire shoulder. Taking another glance again, he sat himself down, considering to whether or not he should call for a medic. Deciding for it, he called the man in white over. It would be a hasty operation, and the would wasn't even really treated, but knowing that his blood was going to stay in his body was enough comfort for the time being. The boy got up once again, firing his assault rifle, the nest in front of him was in sight. Guarded by hundreds of infantry variants, and dozens more of the heavier variants. He could see the core, but his assault rifle wouldn't even scratch the Neuroi hull. Forget that, he couldn't even more a few feet without being turned into Swiss cheese. He could only duck behind the wreckage of an unfortunate bomber along with various members of the assault teams who were lucky enough to have made it this far. Behind them, the main body of the force approached, peppered by lasers as they retaliated with their own weapons. Neither side had much of an edge.

"Reinforcements inbound." The radio crackled. From outside of the area of operations, more troops would be arriving. Thank god...

"Very well. Take cover from the bombardment." Skorzeny ordered. "Hades to White Death, I want those AA variants destroyed. To any air support within the area, strike straight at the nest."

The Sumous sniper appeared right off thin air, perched upon a piece of metal from behind the cover.

"They're on borrowed time." The whisper of the man in white replied. Like a ghost once again, he disappeared in the air, the several squeaks of a silenced snipe rifle would be met with the destruction of several Neuroi.

"We got air variants incoming." Luca said as his mind detected several of the flying Neuroi approach at high speeds."

"Our air support has them." Skorzeny said confidently.

"Sir... there is a capital class with them."

His confidence disappeared in a heartbeat, replaced by a grim chill as his eyes turned into slits beneath the skull mask. Looking up in the skies, he saw his air support arriving. A single black fighter, tailed by three witches.

"Prospero to Hades, capital class of Neuroi incoming. I will handle it."

"Very well." Skorzeny said as he watched the massive black shape approach like a bird of ill-omen. "Assault team, ATTACK!"

"Speaking mah language!" Custard cried as the big man practically jumped over the cover. The dug in forces of TEMPEST and any surviving forces of the military broke cover as thousands of armed men rushed the Neuroi defenses, many of them would meet a brutal death. But there would be far more, thousands more that would remain unmarked, or saved by the advanced armor of TEMPEST.

* * *

The black fighter screamed within the sky as it opened fire upon the massive Neuroi, the machine guns of the fighter, which would normally be pinpricks to a Neuroi of any size, augmented by the powers of a Neuroi core (this anyone paying attention knew) and the powers of a witch (this, practically no one knew) were instead absolutely devastating as they tore shreds of the massive Neuroi's hull off. The machine like alien screamed within pain as it retaliated by filling the skies with lasers, all of which were almost effortless to avoid for Malcolm.

Eila jumped back to avoid being hit from the lasers, before opening fire from her MG 42, watching carefully as the black fighter let loose it's weapons, shredding a portion of the Neuroi's upper hull. To her surprise... it didn't regenerate. Strange.

"That weapon must be really strong..." Yoshika commented as she saw the "mundane" weapon do such massive damage against the large Neuroi, which was about the size of a battleship. Firing her weapon, she broke several holes within the alien. Too bad Mio wasn't here, they would be having quite some problems with locating the core. If the core was at the center most point... then they were about to have quite the problem.

"Must be." Erica agreed as she opened fire as well. Their shields raised to protect them against the Neuroi as it rained hellfire upon them mercilessly, the massive beams causing their shields to buckle and falter, but not break. It's other available weapons doing all they could to shoot down Malcolm's plane, yet not a single one of them hit. Almost as though Malcolm knew exactly where to be to avoid being hit by what one could describe as a literal wall of lasers.

* * *

Far away from the battlefield. A dark figure in a striker unit aimed his anti-tank rifle. The high speed of the jet would have made it hard to hit with this type of weapon for any ordinary man. Fortunately... he was not an ordinary man.

His finger hit the trigger.

* * *

The explosion within the backside of the plane shook Malcolm within his chair. Cursing both to himself and at himself, the man assessed his damage upon his plane. Damn...

"General!" Erica cried out as she saw the back of the plane explode in fire.

"Don't worry Hartmann. I am fine... as long as this thing is one piece... I'll fly it." Malcolm replied as the rapidly dropping aircraft flew out of the combat zone. "Sorry for the inconvenience... but I suppose it's time for you to meet my associate."

"Associate?" The three girls all said at once, while trying not to get vaporized by the Neuroi beams.

"Yes... he'll be coming in shortly." Malcolm said as his plane went into a cloud. They would not be able to see him. Going to the back of the chair, his fingers made contact with the dark costume it slid upon his body, cloaking him within. SAGITTARIUS and the pair of FLECHETTEs would follow as he broke open the windshield and jumped out. The armor allowing him to soar through the skies with the ease of movement of regular clothing, and the speed of the fastest striker unit.

"Is that him?!" Miyafuji asked as she pointed at the dark figure approaching. Almost looked like a Neuroi with the two red spots for eyepieces. The black hood and masked resembled the attires of assassins and thieves of the old.

"Indeed." Malcolm said. His voice filtered by the suit. He detected another Capital class approaching... and another... and another.  
Three capital classes? The Neuroi had found him. They were growing desperate.

* * *

"THREE CAPITAL CLASSES?!" Maloney practically screamed as he heard the radio from anyone watching the skies. "What... how?!"

"It won't be a problem." Skorzeny replied with eerily calmness to him as he looked up. Malcolm had radioed him. MERLIN was joining the fight.

* * *

"Three Capital classes?!" Erica asked with disbelief as the three witches took down the first one. For the entire time, it hadn't regenerated, and perhaps... that was what had allowed them to win against a Neuroi of it's size even with the help of Malcolm's excellent dog-fighting skills. Against three of them? Even if they don't regenerate, it'd be highly debatable to even if they could as much as kill one of them.

"They will be here in under thirty seconds." MERLIN's deep growl of a voice said as he floated along as Eila and Yoshika both took a scrutiny of him. He was flying... but in the same sense of the fact he was more like "floating" than flying. There were no propellers, it was all one suit... though there were red spots beneath on the bottom of his feet. Similar to those on the OVERLORDs. In his hands, was a sniper rifle of unknown design. At his sides were two pistols, a close look would reveal very similar design patterns to the pistol Luca had carried.

"Fifteen." MERLIN continued as the girls got their weapons out. Aiming his sniper rifle at the closest Neuroi, he waited. He could already spot the core. Though he was listening to the conversations of the Neuroi, there would be no indication to he was. The magical antennas that would appear upon any witch with said power were invisible in his case. The Neuroi... they were growing agitated with his arrival.

"Ten." Malcolm continued as he looked at Erica, Eila and Yoshika, all three of which were growing visibly more nervous at the three approaching capital classes. Perhaps even more nervous than the Neuroi.

This waiting. Forget it. He had much to do after this. He bolted straight for all three capital classes, the amount of beams being poured toward him looked enough to level an entire city in just seconds. Like the one in Berlin.

SAGITTARIUS was drawn in an instant as a high-powered round was shot out at speeds that were inconceivable to most minds at the time. The first of the Capital class Neuroi lost it's entire left half in a fiery explosion, like the one before it, this Neuroi didn't seem to be regenerating which was... well... strange for a Neuroi. No one really cared because this would make their jobs a lot easier... if only there weren't so many lasers in the skies.

All three witches would have been dead had they went on to assist MERLIN, though it didn't seem as though the man underneath the hood needed any... wait... man?

So Luca... wasn't the only male witch? Then...

"That shield!" Eila began. "It's... it's bending!"

Indeed it was. The disk of ether that protected MERLIN from being vaporized not only began to expand at a rapid rate, but also began to curve and bend until it shielded him from all sides of the Neuroi attacks. Another round from SAGITTARIUS would instantly destroy the first of the three Neuroi capital classes as they continued to futilely send beams out, hoping that MERLIN's shield would break, which there was no sign to him even as much as breaking sweat.

The shield went down, and at lightning quick speeds did MERLIN reach another capital class, the sniper rifle was put away in lieu of two pistols that highly resembled the one that Luca carried...

It was comparatively, only a few shots when it was only the clips of two pistols. But the other Capital class already began to explode into it's many star fragments. The last of the three Neuroi began to desperately throw everything it had at MERLIN. What happened next, the three witches would hardly believe it happened.

It reminded Yoshika, and just about everyone of Reppumaru, except Reppumaru was neither black nor filled anyone with a sense of dread the moment it was drawn. Like a dark light that cloaked the area around it, it left it's sheathe, waiting to sate it's hunger upon the material world as the vile energies of the dark ether began to encompass the blade, creating an even darker pool of light around it.

One blow. One blow was all it took for the Capital class to go down... but it didn't just simply explode into a billion shards. What was yet another mysterious but equally disturbing thing was that it didn't. That instead, it began to shake and stir as purple and black tendrils of light began to puncture straight out of it's "wound", in the next instant, it would explode in utter darkness. The forces of the dark ether had torn it's material form asunder.

Malcolm grinned underneath the hood. **Na Tis Miras **was doing everything he had hoped for. His magical senses detected several incoming. Looking over to the direction and using an ability that would allow him to see further, it would reveal a large Neuroi air fleet.

Just for him? He was quite flattered. Turning to the three witches, he had orders.

"Assist the ground teams." MERLIN's muffled growl told them. None of them would need any second bidding as they got away from the figure in black. His very presence sent alarm bells of danger to anyone who had seen him. His existence... would bring unease to the three witches as they flew away, seeing MERLIN fly off into the distance.

"What do you think he is?" Eila asked as they got out of distance. "A witch? Or another thing that TEMPEST made?"

"Why not both?" Yoshika suggested as the two began their discussion.

Erica didn't say anything as she recalled the witch. Bending and expanding shields... the ability to detect Neuroi... perhaps much more... and it seemed as though his empowerment of his own weapons was leagues ahead of any other witch.

What was this person? Was it... even human?

And... that gun... it was just like Luca's...

Her train of thought would be broken once she heard Luca's voice, hollering for help. For SOME reason... he was on top of the Neuroi nest and needed a way off. Erica, Yoshika and Eila would have to oblige.


	19. Chapter 19

Let's just say... because the core of the Neuroi nest was on the very top of the foundation, it would be quite difficult to reach. Just out of range of the grenade launchers and just out of angle for even the most skilled marksman, it would be difficult to make the killing blow. Coupled with the heavy AA coverage which made any bombing run equal to a suicide run, there was really nothing the assault teams could do except for hope that the artillery hurries up. But the thing was, for every second wasted was another life that would be lost against the hundreds of Neuroi as TEMPEST went toe to toe with the Neuroi ground forces. Impressive... truly, but TEMPEST couldn't possibly hold the line if they kept coming, even with weapons that were on par with the Neuroi's. This fell upon Luca as he found a way.

Most people would think him crazy. CLIMBING a Neuroi nest.

But he was quite serious. It was a good thing the Neuroi never noticed him as he snuck to a place where his task would be easier (relatively speaking). This perhaps could be in part due to the fact that being able to detect Neuroi, he was able to get a good sense of where they weren't looking par se. Or maybe it was because considering the fact that TEMPEST was launching a huge assault wave right on the Neuroi's doorstep, it would be the only logical thing for the aliens to do is to concentrate on the hundreds if not thousands of men that were charging at them. Give them things such as air support from the skies and heavy armor that was resistant to smaller variants, they would be a real threat to the Neuroi. Discarding his assault rifle, the boy began the long climb.

Making his way to the top was actually the easy part. Getting up top and trying to plant the C4 was difficult. Especially when just up there waiting for him, was a humanoid looking Neuroi which instead of having arms, had massive red glowing blades, as though a bunch of beams had formed a sword of sorts... it didn't have eyes, though that hardly mattered. It could still "see" him just like all it's other brethren... and speaking of which, the moment it did, it ran straight at him at extremely fast speeds.

Oh god...

* * *

"Malcolm Prospero still lives." The man under the black hood said as his striker unit sped him away form the battlefield quickly. Though the plane had been downed, there was more than enough evidence to indicate that his target was still alive. If such a large Neuroi airfleet had been mobilized, than that meant that MERLIN was somewhere around here. And that meant that Malcolm was still alive.

"Do not engage." The man over the radio said. "Prospero is of utmost priority, but of this given moment, there is nothing we can do. Intel suggest that Prospero will be Britannia in three days. We will await for him then."

"Understood. I recommend our course of action is to have every available brother ready. The fate of Europe depends on our success."

"Will do. It is do or die in three days." The radio said before going out, leaving the lone man into the skies as he touched down into a small cottage. The first thing he was greeted with was the voice of an annoyed old woman.

"What did I tell you?! What did I tell you? You think he's just going to go down so easily?" The old woman said as she began to berate the assassin. "I am telling you, I gave you the BEST information on him, and you still can't get it right?! Can you do anything right?!"

"Shut up." The fairly old man said as he took off his hood. "Do you not have better things to do than torment me with your nagging?"

"It's not nagging when millions of lives are at stake here!" Anna replied as she made her friend a cup of tea. "Can't you and your cult do anything right?"

"Well... we're the reason that he hadn't destroyed Europe in 1939." The old man replied. "And we're also the reason that his friend didn't make him even more powerful than he already is."

"Perhaps he already is too strong for any of us." Anna said sadly as she sat down. "Tell me... do you recall how strong he was when he first left your cult?"

"Already at powers that were rivaling Galland." Jean said sadly. "By 1939, he was already stronger than I or anyone could ever hope to be. Over the years... he has grown exponentially. Who can stop him if we don't?"

"Just because you are the last cult of male witches in existence doesn't mean you're better than any other witch." Anna said rolling her eyes. That's what she hated about them. What... because you are rare, maybe because there are less than a hundred of you left doesn't mean you're better than everyone else. "Last I checked, none of you can even use a shield."

"At least we get to keep most of our powers though... we just never got to be able to use a shield to begin with." Jean chuckled as the tension alleviated momentarily. "Except... he could... and his power didn't just manifest when he was a man... it did so when he was still a boy... you know that among... our kind... that's very rare..."

"You always thought he could change the world when the Neuroi would come back. Right Jean?" Anna asked as she handed him a cup of tea.

"I did... but not for the worse." Jean replied as he closed his eyes. The many years of meditation and training on his ability would allow him to see many years into the future with surprising accuracy. Though sometimes, it only showed him the truth. Not the whole truth, and never, nothing but the truth. "If this plan of his follows through.. and if half of the stories I have been hearing him do are true, than there may be no hope for Europe."

"Jean... you and all your cult swore to defend Europe and the world. You be damned if you fail."

"I know... I know..." The old man said as he got up. "Thank you Anna. We will not fail... not for our blood, our children or for the future. If Malcolm wins. the Neuroi aren't the only ones who lose."

"Jean..." Anna said as she stopped him for a moment. "About Lucas..."

"What about him? Don't tell me he intends to inherit his father's plan should anything happen to him."

"No... not that. It's that Luca's powers have already manifested... didn't you know?"

A look of genuine shock came to the old man's face.

"Tell me everything."

* * *

He barely dodged that blade swing... but the important thing was he managed not to get sliced in half. The same really couldn't be said for his vest as the thing lay on the ground in about three pieces. Retaliating, Luca swung his sword straight back at the Neuroi witch, the red blade coming up to block his swing as sweat beads formed on Luca's head. If his blade found it's mark... he might slice his foe in half, and if he was lucky, than that's that. If he wasn't, and it turns out he missed... then it'll get right back up as though nothing happened. The same could not be applied to him. That blade finds it's mark? He's dead. That's that. For once... he wished that his father was actually with him. That kind of thinking however, if Malcolm knew would probably erase whatever small amounts of respect his father has for him.

Swinging a heavy blow, Luca managed to send the Neuroi witch back as his foot hit it straight in the face, staggering the human-like alien before he swung. His blade however, would not meet it's mark as he was hit back by the swing of the Neuroi blade. Though it would never slash at his flesh, the sheer force of the blow would send him back, stunning him for a moment as the Neuroi witch rushed him, blades ready to cleave him in two. This would not happen however, as Luca managed to recover just before meeting a grisly fate, and throwing his sword at the witch, hitting it straight in the chest. The bad news was, it didn't strike the core. The good news was.. Luca's hand was already on his pistol. He had yet to test it, but he loved it the moment he pulled the trigger.

Like a tracer round, except much "larger" in size as a blossom of red flew out of the barrel, striking the Neuroi witch right in the face, blowing it's "head" clean off. A second shot would tear it's torso areas apart, along with the core which would cause the witch to explode into a million bright shards.

Chuckling happily to himself, Luca put on his goggles again as he located the core. Right where he was standing apparently. Placing down the C4s, he looked for a place to jump... only to realize a few things.

Climbing down would end it getting shot repeatedly by several Neuroi that had now just noticed him.  
Jumping down would result in a broken back.

And that was when he was in trouble... some serious trouble... from what he could tell, there was a flyer variant approaching... oh dear... and maybe... discarding the assault rifle wasn't such a good idea.

He did all he could do in his position. Wave for help.

Luckily, it came, in the form of three of his fellow squadmates. The Neuroi flyer was getting closer now... it was a heavier variant too which meant that there'd be no fighting out of this one. Wait... exactly... how was he going to...

"I'LL CATCH YOU!" ERICA CALLED OVER THE DIN.

Wait.. what?!

"Are you sure?!" Luca hollered back as the heavy variant drew closer. He wasn't so sure about this... if her Striker can't support both their weights, it was a pretty huge drop down...

"DO IT!" Erica called as she threw away her weapon. For reasons that Luca could not possibly comprehend, Eila was finding this all to be very amusing, while Yoshika for reasons he could understand, was getting increasingly worried at the approaching heavy variant.

Closing his eyes, Luca went back and jumped. At the same moment, he hit the trigger.

The core was consumed in a massive fireball, and with that the nest would explode into a million fine pieces as did any Neuroi in close proximity. They had won. And the surprisingly thing was? Erica's striker somehow managed to support both their weights, though Luca would be hang on a bit tightly for dear life. From this distance, he could feel her body heat. His heart was pounding like crazy and...

Something told him, his heart wasn't the only thing was pounding as he realized one of his hands strayed a bit too far down. Doing the smart thing, he slowly found a grip along Erica's back.

"Sorry."

"It's okay." Erica blushed... though those two words were instantly regretted the moment Eila burst into hearty laughter. Together, the four landed, mainly to drop off Luca onto the ground as TEMPEST licked it's wounds and took a look at what it had won. Despite fairly heavy casualties, a force comprised mainly of infantry had been able to win a major victory against the Neuroi... mostly infantry we're talking here. Almost no armored support, and very little air coverage in comparison.

This was looking to be a good day.

For who... however, was a better question.


	20. Chapter 20

"The weapons and men preformed acceptably." Skorzeny said as he gave his report. "We suffered moderate casualties, however, given the average performance of most conventional forces, I'd say we preformed far better. Neuroi forces in this area of Karlsland have been completely eliminated. The main armies of the allied nations continued to push forth."

"Thank you." Malcolm said as he clapped his hands together and watched as the OVERLORDs came in to drop off men, arms and anything that had been salvaged that may have had use to TEMPEST. "Transfer orders to command that they should move any critically injured men to this location."

The general tapped an area on the map. It was labeled "Dachau".

"Understood." Skorzeny said as he exited the general's office to type do his duties. After finishing sorting some papers, the general would get up to meet up with the 501st. A job well done.

"Greetings ladies and gentlemen." Malcolm said as he stepped up in full uniform. Thanks to the fast speeds of ARCHER, he had returned to base in relatively small time, long enough for him to get undressed and redressed back in his regular uniform. "It appears the operation was a success. Thanks to you all."

"Whoa... you're already back?!" Erica commented, somewhat oblivious to the fact you normally stand attention when brass was on deck. "I thought..."

"It wasn't too hard." Malcolm lied as he straightened out his uniform. In truth... the plane was probably wreck somewhere in the middle of Karsland. Good thing he had ARCHER on with him. "But as I would say, good job you all. The allied army can now push further into Karlsland without this thorn in their side. Dismissed... except for you Miyafuji. Come with me."

* * *

"Yes sir?" Yoshika asked rather nervously as the two sat down within Malcolm's office. The clean and tidy room was spotless, looking very spartan in design. On a weapons rack hung two swords from days gone by, evident that both Malcolm and Luca had a thing for blades. Another rack would contain a bow. The bow of Robin Hood.

"Yoshika... I have a question for you. What do you know about your father?" Malcolm asked as he sat down.

"Well... not much to be honest." Yoshika began as she recalled the events of his death. How the military said nothing was her greatest concern.

"Your father was a great man." Malcolm said as he stood up. "An excellent friend and a brilliant man. I was there on the day of his death... and I have to say, I am truly sorry that there was nothing I could have done."

A careful observer would note that Malcolm was holding a steel-tipped arrow rather tightly, his knuckles turning white from the sheer force he applied onto it as he recalled the events of earlier today. His plane was not shot by the Neuroi... and judging from what he remembered, it was a form of anti-tank rifle that was made by humans. Unless Lynette was secretly out there to kill him, it was likely that the shooter was a witch. And there was only very few witches Malcolm new that had the intention of killing him.

"Thank you sir..." Yoshika said slowly as Malcolm sat back down, repeating his question.

"What do you know about him?"

The Striker units, the several plane designs, how he had been a great father since the time he was able to be with his daughter. And that of course, her father had wanted her to use her power to protect everyone.

Malcolm smiled. _She doesn't know_.

"Thank you Yoshika." Malcolm said as he sat down. "That will be all."

"Sir?"

"That will be all." Malcolm repeated as Yoshika wisely got up and left. The moment she was out, he opened the passage to his personal armory. ARCHER hanging on it's mannequin.

An accident they called it... but Malcolm knew full well that it was no accident as he looked down again at ARCHER and the people it reminded him of. In 1939, they had set him back for about six years. Before that, in 1919 when Malcolm was only a young boy, he had already left their cult, disinterested in the monastery-like life that his kind seemed to adore. He would set out for life in the world, where he would his own happiness, his own life.

In 1935, just before any signs of the impending Neuroi invasion. Malcolm had joined the military meeting with a man. A man called Ichiro Miyafuji. The two had shared a vision, a vision that there would be a world without the Neuroi. Not surprisingly, the two would become close friends and remained in close contact with one another.

In 1939, September 9th, the two would meet again. Ichiro had plans... plans that would eliminate the Neuroi once and for all at the cost of comparatively little loss of human life as possible. His plan at the time, was known as the _Uranverein _to his colleagues, who were primarily Karlslandian scientists that were among the first to flee the Neuroi invasion. The plan was excellent. The total destruction of the Neuroi invasion force would be at hand at the cost of very little human life. With Malcolm's promotion to a four-star general within the Liberian military as well as control of TEMPEST a research organization within Liberion. They were all too happy to work together in Britannia as _Uranverein_ began into it's infancy.

Soon... setbacks would begin. The appearance of Neuroi hives not just in Karlsland but in all of Europe was the first, as well as the mysterious disappearances of several top scientists that would work for Malcolm.

The major one however, was the "accidental" explosion at Miyafuji's lab that had killed him. Caused by one potential organization. This would set back Malcolm for many years, as _Uranverein _and any notes on the topic were mostly destroyed. What was salvaged was very little comparison, though it would be renamed "The Manhattan project" as the new research team was mainly Liberian. Miyafuji however, was the father of this research. And he will be avenged, just like Rebecca. However... Miyafuji was a casualty of a human conflict. Perhaps many years ago, it may have mattered to Malcolm just as killing another human would have greatly disgusted the doctor. But he was dead now, and the dead wouldn't rest in peace until his murderers were brought to "justice".

It was a good thing his enemies had such "great" intel on him. Malcolm was ready. So would be the great black bow that still lacked a bow string.

Malcolm had just the thing for it.

* * *

"So... you see that guy? MERLIN?" Eila began as she sat down with Erica. "Okay... can so... we thought it was a Neuroi witch and all... but it could talk! And..."

"Eila... I am PRETTY sure that it was a human." Erica yawned over dinner.

"Okay fine. So he not only could talk... but his shield was so big and that it could bend! It even covered his entire body!"

"You can't be serious." Barkhorn began. "There's no way that a shield could be used to cover an entire body. Besides... it's a he. Isn't Luca the only male witch in existence?"

"I am certain there are others." Luca said. At least one other from his understanding. Taking a bite out of dinner, he observed the rest of the conversation as Yoshika, Erica and Eila did their best to convince the others about MERLIN. Apparently a witch... that DIDN'T USE A STRIKER UNIT and was able to take on 3 CAPITAL CLASSES BY HIMSELF...

To most people, it would sound very absurd. That's exactly how most of the 501st found it, with the exception of Francesca who was in total awe that such a person could have existed, and Luca who for obvious reasons, knew of MERLIN's existence. Though... why no one had bothered to ask Malcolm this was true or not was somewhat of a mystery to him. Perhaps it involved things like the guy with the skull mask or the fact that no one had a chance to ask Malcolm.. on that note.

"Why don't you all just ask the general if it's true or not?" Minna brought up. "He would know for sure."

"Wait a moment... Luca..." Shirley began.

Uh oh.

"You know anything about this guy?" Shirley continued.

"Not really." Luca lied as he did his best to sound as convincing as possible. "I thought I was the only male witch... until now when you began. But we are dealing with TEMPEST here, and they do have surprises up around every corner. For all we know, there might be a whole den of male witches out there somewhere!"

He would have no clue to how much truth that last statement held.

* * *

[Sometime later]

"You really dead set on serving breakfast to him?" Barkhorn asked Erica as she continued to flip through the cookbook. Her answer?

"YES." Erica replied as she continued to flip through the pages for any good things. "Why shouldn't I?"

_These two... they just met for crying out loud too... and you'd think they've known each other for years._ Barkhorn thought as she looked over. On the flipside... if Erica really did successfully feed Luca ANYTHING, it'd be a good wonder to see if this "relationship" lasts... or whether or not Luca doesn't die of food posioning three seconds after he's eaten.

But this wasn't really her business. It normally would be Minna's job to be deal with these kind of things... hopefully, for their sake. It just wouldn't get out of hand...


	21. Chapter 21

"Oh... hi!" Luca said awkwardly as he wondered whether or not if he should be enjoying this to new levels, or if he should have felt somewhat scared at the way Erica was practically perched on top of him... down there. While he normally wore full on pants that could easily have been rolled up in the event he would need to go on duty... in bed, he wore nothing more than just a pair of boxers and right now...

"I made you breakfast!" Erica said as she showed him the plate of... um...

To the average person's perspective... it can be accurately described as "what the hell is this?". Aside from being a darkened mess on a plate, and a black brothy like substances within a bowl... it was the only accurate description of what anyone could get of what Erica had made. Judging from the looks of it, it looked as though it should have been more of a weapon used on the Neuroi than something you'd feed to someone.

To Luca? He just took the place of "food" rather enthusiastically, surprisingly enthusiastically actually as a matter of fact as he looked at the contents. Including the blackened mess of what could be described as "edible" contents, there was also a glass of water which looked like the only thing fit for human consumption that Erica had brought him. To Luca? Everything was fine. Courtesy of someone whom he had just met too! Someone he happened to have felt oddly attracted too even prior to playing a game of accidental Strip pok... I mean a little over the top Go Fish... that aside, Luca could only beam inwardly as he felt like this was going to be a few good months with this new squad... not saying his old one was bad... it was actually really good and...

He did his best not to think about it, and focused more on the top ace humanity had at it's disposal and the food she was generously serving him. Without a second though, he smiled warmly at her and opened his mouth, digging his spoon into the black... brothy... thing.

* * *

"So... you feeling okay?" Minna asked as she sat besides Luca while he took a look at a notebook and his belongings. Rather confused by her question, he shot her a few rather quizzical looks before replying.

"I am fine ma'am... why?" Luca replied as he took a look at his browning and knife. Those two... family friends they were...

"Nothing... nothing..." Minna said, rather surprised at the fact he wasn't dead yet from Hartmann's cooking. Surprisingly, the way Luca had first said it... Hartmann's cooking was actually "good". Either he had no sense of taste... or maybe he was being REALLY REALLY REALLY polite. As Minna looked over at Luca again, who looked perfectly fine and not appearing to be about to die from food poisoning any time soon, she saw him lick his fingers again for like the second time... at this moment, she considered on tasting what Erica had made... though Trude already had that. And that one look of her face told Minna exactly why she did not need to taste what Erica had made.

"Ugh..." Trude groaned as she made her way in. "Erica... what she made..."

"Tell me about it." Minna said. Surprisingly... Barkhorn wasn't dead either though she sure looked sick as a dog. "How was it?"

"How was it?! Apparently... some black broth was TOAST." Trude commented. "And this... black... stain? It was eggs apparently. I had one bite and... it was enough for me."

"Can you believe that Luca ate everything Erica gave him? It's a wonder he hadn't... well... it hadn't come back up yet." Minna said slowly, watching as Luca fiddled with his belongings within the armory.

"Maybe he was being extra polite?" Trude suggested. She had spent the better portion of the morning bent over a toilet from Erica's "food". "Great way to start off one's birthday."

"Oh right... it's his birthday today!" Minna called out. "Too bad out here in the middle of Neuroi-held territory it's too hard to get anything really. You'd have to go at least a hundred miles west to go anywhere that... what time is it again?"

"7:30 AM... if only Erica got up this early everyday..." Trude grumbled. "Anyways... what were you saying?"

"Well... 100 miles is pretty far... and it would take a good portion of the day... why not have Luca go out with a few others for a "Supply run". Remember when we had some of the girls do that in Romagna? Heard they had a lot of fun from doing that... just hope no Neuroi show up this time..." Minna began. "Why not have let him go this time? We could use some more things around here anyways, the General isn't exactly one who seems too keen on ordering niceties."

"I guess..." Barkhorn began slowly. "So..."

"Sending them on a "supply run". Maybe have a few people go with him. Celebrating your birthday alone isn't a very fun thing to do now isn't it?"

"Don't you think his father would..."

"Trude... you haven't been listening to Luca very much now have you? I know it may NOT seem that way ever since we got here... but Luca and Malcolm aren't exactly very close... besides... it could be a good bonding experience. He was originally supposed to be second-in-command actually to fill Mio's spot... something about a postponement..."

Wait... that last part...

Trude would have to look into that later... but as of now, she just shrugged her shoulders and decided, why not have the guy go out and have a day off. He did help greatly in destroying a Neuroi nest too... deserved a break.

* * *

"He's good... but he's NOT a replacement for the Major!" Perrine commented with a pout as she sat down besides the table. "Besides... I bet the Major doesn't need magic to be effective!"

"Well... who could replace Mio would be a better subject." Yoshika commented. "But I like him... besides... isn't it cool to have the only male witch on the team?"

"He's not so special... he can't POSSIBLY be the ONLY male witch..." Perrine commented as she saw Malcolm walk right by, paying almost no end to their conversation while dressed in his civilian clothes which consisted of a rather fancy tuxedo and carrying a few sheets of papers. "Well... that's a nice suit..."

"What do you think the occasion is for?" Yoshika asked as he saw Malcolm head outside, onto the balcony.

"I dunno... public appearance?" Lynette suggested as she watched Malcolm exit. She wouldn't have any more time on contemplating it when Francesca walked in.

"Hey Yoshika!" The rather hyper girl called out. "Luca is going out for a supply run... wanna come?! Shirley and Erica are going too! We're going to Brussels for a supply run! Anyone else?!"

"That sounds great!" Yoshika said. "What about you two?"

"No thanks..." Perrine said. _I got some more brooding about Sakamoto's "replacement" to do. _

_"_Too bad no one is from Belgica..." Bishop muttered almost regrettably. For reasons that will be left unspoken of... she would be staying back. Malcolm didn't exactly need her to be here, well... not like he gave explicit orders of anyone having to stay, though Minna would probably be feeling a bit better with the majority of the 501st back at base. Whether or not TEMPEST actually needed them here... it was debatable... though Malcolm had mentioned things like a "test run" that required "a witch" so... perhaps at least a few people should stay back. "I'll stay."

Well... this was like a serious case of Deja Vu...

"Do... do... do we need to make a list to what we need?" Yoshika asked Francesca.

"Nope! Luca's already done that!"

* * *

"So... there's a major supply depot and civilian center in Brussels." Luca began as he looked at his notepad, pencil in hand. "Being here in the largest forward base that the allied nations currently holds... I don't think we exactly need to go on an ammo run... but I think we could use some non-necessary items here don't you think?"

"Don't you mean unnecessary?" Yeager asked quizzically.

"That sounds rather harsh..." Luca commented as he gestured over to what he was wearing. Tactical clothing produced by TEMPEST... apparently would save a man if he was hit by a "smaller" Neuroi beam. Judging from the fact that people who wore huge VESTS of this still got holes melted in them, it was highly debatable to how well this "armor" worked. Then again... that's probably why he had a tactical VEST over him too. Hell... he might as well as have packed a whole flak jacket...

And as usual... just IN CASE... he always had his browning and his side arm as well as his combat knife... the last of which seemed a bit... odd to have when all things considered, it was the NEUROI they were dealing with...

But of course, for the browning, that weird pistol thing he carried, and the Striker units he stashed in the back of the truck, Shirley could easily rationalize any of that for rather obvious reasons. Checking the map for a moment and making a quite calculation. it'd be a two hour drive if they went at regular speed, assuming there'd be no traffic.

Of course... Shirley does not simply drive at "regular speed".

Yoshika would be extra careful this time as she found something to cling onto, Francesca was just glad it was Shirley driving. And Luca...? Let's just say his breakfast had quite some trouble staying in his stomach for reasons that actually did not involve what Minna or Trude might tell someone. And... he was very fortunate to have been wearing BODY ARMOR.


	22. Chapter 22

And after what seemed like the millionth time of practicing his speech he would have to end up giving in London in two days, Malcolm gave a small sigh of relief. It was done after so many long hours of practicing in front of the mirror, dressed in the garb that he would inevitably have to wear during the ceremony. Not that he didn't really like fancy suits or garishly looking tuxedos, it was just in the scorching heat of today, wearing one was utter torture as he wiped sweat from his brow and collar. In his office, he had kept a wardrobe in the even that he would need a change of clothes, which he needed more than ever as of now as he took off the heavy two piece suit, which roasted him from the inside out, switching it instead from just a simple uniform which was less hot and suffocating. Deciding maybe he should just practice in this for his own comfort's sake and for the sake of convenience, he looked into the mirror to recite once again. MAYBE... just this one last time.

Finishing, he took a deep breath as he stared into his reflection of the mirror and held out his hand, despite knowing that nothing would happen this way. Making sure to lock the doors and pull down the blinds, the Liberian general and head of TEMPEST opened the hidden passage to his armory, where he found ARCHER waiting for him. Putting on the armor, he came back to the mirror in his office, taking a deep breath and making sure the hood wouldn't accidentally snap on, he placed his hand upon the mirror, an eerie yet familiar blue blow encasing his body as the mirror's reflection of the room faded and began to swirl, revealing what could be described as a maelstrom of silver before it settled, giving off the ghostly appearance of a woman. For the first time in a long time, Malcolm's face quivered with emotion as he looked at the spirit in front of him. It lacked a face, or any method of communication, but that would hardly matter as he stared into it's faceless head as the form began to move and shudder, as though it had seen a long lost lover which in fact... it did.

"Rebecca." Malcolm whispered as he placed his hand upon the mirror, a lone tear streamed from his eyes as the well of emotions, and memories poured into his mind as he tapped into the lost spirit of his late wife with the powers of the

_I'll kill them all..._

* * *

_She was a loving wife. She was a caring mother. A good friend. A benefactor to all of mankind. She was a witch to everyone else, but to Malcolm, she was his goddess. She was his world to him. The day they had met..._

_They had met in lovely Paris after Malcolm had left Rome. At age 15, in the spring of 1918 at the near end of the first Neuroi war, Malcolm was merely a fledgling in comparison to what he was now, but this so-called "fledgling" already had the powers to rival some of the greatest bloodlines in all of Europe. There, he met another Liberion who had been assigned to help defend against the Neuroi. Her name... was Rebecca Prospero._

_His name at the time, was Malcolm Merlin. The strings of fate would pull the two together Malcolm remembered the first day they met, how she was a witch that had been assigned to the idyllic city from a rather wealthy family. Malcolm, was nothing more than just an ordinary young boy at the time, working as an assistant at a local bakery. What no one knew was that Malcolm had just left Rome, emerging from the catacombs that housed the last cult of male witches, possibly the only male witches. His belongs comprised of nothing out of the ordinary, save for a hooded cloak that in reality, was form of armor, as well as a bow and some arrows and lastly, two blades. He recalled how they had met, that he had been hit by a horse-drawn carriage and suffered quite the hefty injuries. Despite his powers, which were quite impressive at the time, it was an injury that required extensive medical attention. One a young female witch at the time was only too happy to provide for._

_He had remembered being in the medical tent... how she had gently laid him in bed and fed him dinner for he had sprained his right arm and was unable to do much with his left. When he had been fed and taken care of, she used her magic upon him, healing his injuries in a heartbeat. He was reluctant... some unknown force compelled him to stay, but in the end, he had leave. He just had to._

_Fate decided that this wasn't the way it wanted things to play out. Because the very next day, a Neuroi ended up showing up in the skies of Paris, threatening to level the entire city. It was one of the smaller variants too, though poised just as much as a threat to the city due to the lack of Striker units._

_There would be few witnesses, but one young girl would recall the events bright as day. A young man, armed with nothing but a bow and arrow, stood at the top of a building as the lasers touched down, vaporizing several streets and dozens of people. When the young man fired his arrow, it hummed through the air as the angel of death sang it's silence when it connected with the Neuroi , not only did it shatter the outer hull with little effort, but hit home right on the core, destroying it instantly. _

_Malcolm Merlin, had destroyed an air variant of Neuroi, in 1918, with nothing but a bow and arrow. Perhaps the greatest feat in the entire war, that no one ever knew about. There would be few witnesses, most were too busy trying not to get vaporized to be able to tell what had actually happened. The papers in Paris ended up printing that the Neuroi had attacked, but ended up fleeing for unknown reasons. Rebecca Prospero however, would know better as the following day, she tracked down the young boy, who had ended up losing his job in the bakery because said bakery had ended up getting vaporized._

She wasn't quite sure to what the boy was... she perhaps never really was at the time. But when she approached him as he sat alone by the rubble and destruction the Neuroi had caused, she looked at him, and he looked back. Their eyes meeting. A voice whispered to both of them.

**_"Love, is when two bodies share the same soul." _**

_Was it god that had spoken? Malcolm only had a fundamental belief at the time, but regardless, he approached the young girl. The two would become best of friends in the following days to come as Malcolm found a position alongside within the Liberian Military, mainly as a civilian helper. Rebecca would be the only one who knew better as she saw one day, he preformed the same healing spell to an injured soldier that she had preformed on him. _

* * *

_"How... how did you do that?" Rebecca asked as she looked at Malcolm, who's hand was tapping down upon the still-unconscious but fully recovered soldier. "You.. you're a boy... you couldn't..."_

_"I don't know... it just came to me." Malcolm replied as he looked at the beautiful young girl. Her lush dark hair... or bright brown eyes... her ethereal and slender form. At this time, Malcolm only had little idea on his ability to tap into one's mind. It wasn't just limited to the Neuroi, it could be used on other people as well, including witches. Indirectly, this would be the reason Malcolm would gain a plethora of abilities at his command in later years, but for now, he would only be limited to the ability to guide his projectiles, to locate a core, and now, to heal another human being._

_"You're... you're pretty amazing you know that?" Rebecca began as she looked at him. He was quite the handsome fellow, his dark hair, his blue eyes which gleamed with an aspiration to greatness. And best of all? He was just perfect._

_"Thanks? But you're the amazing one here... you're the reason I don't have a sprained arm and a few broken ribs."_

_"But that crash should have killed you for sure... the fact you only had a sprained arm and a few broken ribs is just... I... and... the other day... that Neuroi..."_

_"I shot it down with my bow." Malcolm said as he decided to leave the soldier there. He would be okay._

_"How?!" Rebecca asked with disbelief. "That shouldn't even be possible! How could you possibly have..."_

_"Magic." Malcolm said with a grin._

_"Oh very funny... now then... what were you doing and how did you manage to heal this man?"_

_"Magic." Malcolm smiled again._

_"You know... I am a witch... and that's not very funny." Rebecca said in the most unconvincing voice possible. She was one step away from cracking up at the otherwise mediocre jest._

_"Magic. You know... I am a witch too." Malcolm replied._

_"Right... right... so tell me about that horse that had two heads...?" The last part of her sentence trailed off as she watched a disk of ether form in front of Malcolm. A shield... but only a..._

_He really was witch! A male witch?! Is that even possible?!_

_"How did you...?"_

_"Rebecca... can you please keep a secret?" Malcolm asked as the shield faded away and he approached her. "Can you please make sure that no one else knows I am a witch?"_

_"What...? Why?! This is amazing! And let me guess... you're magic is to heal people to right? Maybe we can work together and..."_

_"Not just that... but there's many things about me. I was actually on my way to get recruited within the infantry regiment of Liberion... I am going to be a soldier. Like you Rebecca."_

_"But..."_

_"I am witch remember? How are they going to kill me anyways?" Malcolm chuckled. "But... say... after I go... will you keep in touch?"_

_"Of course! I never met anyone as interesting as you are!" Rebecca replied. "But... the day is still young. I know this really good cafe down town... want to go?"_

_"Certainly." Malcolm replied with a smile. Rebecca's was only the very first of all abilities he would gain. As the war progressed, and the Neuroi finally disappeared for a short while, Malcolm would gain many to supplement his armory of abilities as he met more people, or rather, more witches. It wasn't long before he possessed all that he needed to gain the attention of the Neuroi as they seemed to dispatch more and more units to kill Malcolm. Whichever company that had the misfortune of having Malcolm along with them would end up getting wiped out. Save for Malcolm, who always seemed to have been able to defeat the Neuroi in question, growing more powerful as a result. When the war ended and a few years passed, the man was promoted to a Captain in the Liberian military. Though he had not seen Rebecca in many years, only communicating through their letters, not only did he know her exact location at all times, but also her exact answer to his big question._

_"Will you marry me?"_

_The answer? Yes. On the day of 1924 July 4th, the two were wedded. As Rebecca was his goddess, rather than changing her name to Rebecca Merlin, he changed his Malcolm Prospero. In the early spring of 1931, Luca was born. A happy time in the life of Malcolm, though as usual, he always found something unfulfilled. Making his way, the man possessed a keen hunger for knowledge as he studied things like the Neuroi, ancient witches and magic, as well as potential ways to combat the enemy. In 1933, in a trip to Britannia, he met a man. Ichiro Miyafuji, who shared a similar view upon the Neuroi and was a genius, in everyday that Malcolm could respect. The two would become best friends, as Ichiro soon deduced Malcolm to be a witch. Amazed by him, the pair would only prosper as they worked together, Ichiro began his development of the Striker unit, while Malcolm, fully realizing his abilities to tap into the minds of other beings, began to practice it, laying down the foundations to the WARLOCK as well as beginning to experiment with body armors that could potentially benefit the mundane armies of the world. The first on the list would be ARCHER, the first thing humanity had developed that would be "neurofied" giving it the ability to fly as well as enhanced durability and regeneration capabilities._

_Despite all these advances however, the foundations of using the Neuroi's own weapons against them, the Striker units, Ichiro and Malcolm both came to the agreement. The Neuroi held an upper hand, and they were intent on fixing that. With Ichiro's genius of magic and technology, and Malcolm's genius of strategy and the Neuroi, the two were intent on working together for a way to destroy the threat with the loss of as little life as possible. Uranverein was developed at this time with the combined efforts of Malcolm, Ichiro, and several of Karlsland's best scientists. The plan was simple, with Malcolm's abilities of a witch, he would be able to enhance a powerful bomb of unprecedented destructive capabilities, and end the Neuroi threat for good. This could be done by the same way the Neuroi sent a hive to earth, unlike this process however, Malcolm would send a bomb back to their home, a bomb of enough destructive power to shatter planets when imbued with his power. _

_That was when disaster struck for Malcolm. The Cult that he had abandoned caught wind of the plan. On August 18th, 1939, Ichiro was murdered, "an accident" many called it. But Malcolm would know it was no accident as he mourned the loss of a good friend. It wouldn't be till two years until he deduced that the cult had been behind the attack that killed his friend, and several brilliant scientists._

And again, fate would spite him on the fateful day, of September 1st, 1939. With his wife, Malcolm traveled to Berlin to meet with see a familiar city. A vacation one could call it. But this... in the end was folly.

The Neuroi attacked that day. Malcolm remembered it clear as day. Rebecca, his lovely wife... his goddess... his soul... 

_She died in his very arms that day, her body fading away, and melting away into nothing as Malcolm could only watch, his healing powers couldn't have possibly healed her from the injuries she sustained. It was then when he realized that fate had played it's cruel trick. With her dying breath... Rebecca asked him to promise her one thing._

The total annihilation of the Neuroi.

In his grief, his anguish, his sorrow and his burning hatred of the enemy he accepted. The words, "I promise.. I will kill them all" bound their contract.

Her body, or what remained of it faded into a pool of ether. As most male witches lacked a familiar, Malcolm would be the first to gain one in centuries. His own wife. 

_And it was then that he realized what the cruel card that fate had played... for he realized, many of his powers had increased in effectiveness exponentially, and that he now held the powers of the gods themselves at his fingertips... _

_And yet for all this power he just gained, enough to have easily rescued Rebecca from the jaws of death... the way he gained was through her death..._


	23. Chapter 23

"Feeling better?" Yoshika asked Luca as he moved through the streets of Brussels like a drunkard, he felt so sick to the stomach that he had thrown up, not just once, but twice during the drive. Good thing he had the courtesy to lean over the edge or it would have been extra miserable to the occupants of the truck except for Shirley. The girl in question was currently looking around at a local candy shop which was selling chocolate. The best in Europe. Luca on the other-hand, didn't want anything to do with food for possibly the entire day after what hhappened on the car ride.

"A little bit... A little bit." Luca groaned as he walked with Yoshika and Erica. The pair sitting him down by a bench as they looked on in the busy streets of Brusells. "Yoshika... you mentioned you wanted to buy rice?"

"Yes... you found..."

"Market... back there. Someone had probably literal tons of it in his stall." Luca said as he sat back down. He hated cars, or really any form of speedy travel on the ground, which was ironic considering how much he loved to fly, despite being actually pretty awful when compared to the good majority of his squadmates, and being a total powerhouse on the ground that was a threat to even larger variants of Neuroi. If he was going to be honest with himself, all the things he was good at... he hated. If his father hadn't been marginally swayed by his opinion and if Africa wasn't in need of more witches in the skies, chances are, he would have been a ground witch, or maybe even a grunt. Regardless, Africa JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE NEEDED A GUY IN THE SKY... well... opinon of Malcolm. Luca actually enjoyed being up in the air despite clearly having an average track record at best. It was the ground where he shone, perhaps why his father had him serve with the ground battalions of TEMPEST just yesterday. Many say that the reason they'd won was because of Lucas.

And back in Africa, prior to being reassigned, Luca would have been nothing more than "oh... that male witch" on the team. Now... he was something. Someone. He never truly knew how to react to attention, positive or negative. His father, Malcolm was very secretive, everyone in Liberion knew him to be an effective leader, but hardly anyone would know about the guy under the black hood, or the Neuroi-based weapons. No one would ever know about the 150 or so men that were changed forever by usage of magic and unorthodox science. No one would ever know about the witches that Striker units that TEMPEST developed or why a massive Liberian naval fleet was gathering in the ocean around the eastern coast. TEMPEST was a secret, Malcolm had plenty.

The thoughts of his father was pushed out of his mind as Luca sat down on the bench, feeling a lot better, he watched as Miyafuji disappeared around the corner, while Shirley and Francesca went into the candy shop, leaving him and Erica alone on the busy streets. He looked around for anything that may be of interest.

"You interested in that restaurant over there?" Luca asked which was right besides a bookstore.

"Sure!" Erica said, having a slight craving for waffles right about now. "Think they serve waffles for lunch too?"

"Hope they do..." Luca said, he could almost taste the waffles, coated with rich and sweet

* * *

An old man sat besides them within the finely decorated place as the pair sat down, grinning at the smell of waffles and the sweet scent of syrup. The pair were promptly seated at table with a lovely vase of flowers, facing outside where they were have clear view of Brussels and the hustle and bustle of the magnificent city. Besides them, sat an old man of Gallian origins. From what his two friends, two equally elderly men of European origins referred to him, his name was "Jean". On the outside, sat an elderly woman who was facing away from the two dining within. Her hair looked AWFULLY familiar...

* * *

"Subject identified as "Lucas Prospero"." The man a top one of the buildings said as he aimed an arcane looking pair of binoculars at Luca who was sitting besides the window. His face was concealed by a hood, though any form of fancy getup like that, considering it was dark cloak would be practically waving a giant neon sign that said "LOOK HERE" when he was in broad daylight. Of course... being a witch, he had a trick up his sleeve. No one could see him, save for those who'd been "trained". Mainly, his brotherhood that was scattered around the city.

"Any sign of Malcolm Prospero?" The transponder asked with another deep growl of a voice. Malcolm's filter was merely a machine, here it was magic doing the work.

"None at all. Our target is not here... so much for a "reliable" insider information." Another voice said. "Confirmed sightings of various members of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing."

"Which members?"

"Charlotte Yeager, Francesca Lucchini, Lucas Prospero, Erica Hartmann... and..."

"Is that all? Speak up. No sense in keeping your mouth shut if there's something important to say."

"I confirm visual on Yoshika Miyafuji. Course of action?"

"Not now... it may be unnecessary for us to anything if... Gustav... what the hell are you doing?!" The man over the radio asked angrily. Though no one in the crowd could see it, the trained eyes of the witch a top one of the buildings could easily spot out the black hooded man that made his way through the crowd to Yoshika, long knife in hand. To his frustration, the man made no reply.

"I have bad news..."

"What?"

"Gustav's radio is broken."

* * *

"Always wanted to meet Hanna. My dad always wanted to do so as well." Luca began. "Heard she's one of the best."

"She is." Erica said, who was too busy staring at him. He was quite the handsome fellow... good looking... strong... wasn't too big of a guy, but still was pretty tall... had a great smile... lovable personality... and... why was she describing him like this now?

Good thing Barkhorn's magic wasn't being able to read minds, or she would have strangled her by now for thinking these thoughts. They hadn't known each for very long, but Erica can say for certain she was liking this guy... okay not in that sense! Not in that sense! NOT IN THAT SENSE! Okay... maybe just a little in that...

"Why are you staring me at me?" Erica asked with a small grin as she watched Luca check her out, somewhat in a trance-like state.

"Huh?! Oh... um... no reason." Luca blushed as he looked around him, trying not to make eye contact with Erica. By chance, his eyes caught to the old woman that was sitting next to them...

"Anna?" He asked with disbelief. The woman gave no reply, merely just frowned. But... that wasn't the important thing. What was, was the scream that came down the streets.

"What's going on?" Erica asked as she saw Luca get up and grab his sidearm, everything appearing almost in slow motion as he rushed out of the door to see what was going on. Pushing his way through the crowd was perhaps the hardest part as he made his way, everything in slow motion. To him, it seemed like an eternity for him to get all the way to the market where...

YOSHIKA. He only doubled his efforts to getting there. While to him, he may have thought he had taken an hour to get there, in truth, he actually made the way in an almost record time... but even then, he may have been somewhat late.

Back pressed against a stall, was Yoshika, her arms outstretched in fear at the sight ahead of her.

A man, in black. Looking down upon her with a large knife in both hands.

He knew exactly wh

* * *

at needed to be done.

* * *

If any "normal" male witch had to face against any "normal" female witch... thousands of years ago, it would have been massively in favor of the male witch. Today? It was now greatly in favor of any female witch... most of the time... The only thing that could allow a male witch today to gain any advantage over a female one was greater mastery in magic. Given that they never do lose their magical ability... it was a good thing for the Brotherhood that many of them have had decades upon decades of training.

His magic detected the approaching "bullet" long before it had even left the barrel of it's gun. By the time Luca's finger hit the trigger, Gustav had already maneuvered his body so that he would not be hit by the blast. The brilliant red bullet that flew by hit the wall of a building, blasting a huge whole into it. Gustav turned his masked face at his would-be shooter.

Lucas Propsero.

The knives were pulled out and pointed at Luca in a flash, though Gustav would not speak, he knew more than well that taunts and intimidation through words were unnecessary. His very appearance demanded fear from those around it. Underneath, he grinned just like a saint would smile at the prospect of being able to enter god's kingdom.

A large step in their plan this would make...

Bolting forth, he gasped in surprise the moment as the blue disk of ether blocked his twin blades. Shields...? What? 

"That idiot!" One of the cloaked men commented as he saw the fight between Gustav and Lucas open up. "Does he not know that Lucas can use shields?! Was he not there when Malcolm was introduced to our brotherhood?!"

"Serves him right... but I doubt Gustav could possibly lose to an amateur swordsman." Another man commented. "But... should we attempt to stop him? This may jeopardize our situation... though on the other hand, it may tie up loose ends..."

"I don't like this... we've revealed ourselves... and worse yet, if this fails, Malcolm will know. If this succeeds, Malcolm will know but..."

"Y'avol is on his way." Jean said over the radio. "For now... we can only watch and see what happens."

Y'avol? Coming here?

That name...


	24. Chapter 24

For once in his life, Luca began to regret not paying more attention to his father when he had trained him with the blade. In his past, when he was under six, Malcolm had already begun drilling his son in how to use a sword. Of course, Luca had always hated doing this, mainly because it ended with him getting injured, and Malcolm paying almost no mind to any physical harm done to him. His mother actually did extend her sympathizes over, but would do little to actually stop her father. Perhaps one of the many reasons why Luca was never really close with his father. It wouldn't be until the Fuso sea incident where a witch had split an ocean with the fabled "Reppuzan" did Luca finally rekindle his interest. Malcolm wouldn't be here to teach him this time however, he had to teach himself.

As the blade swipe nicked him in his shoulder, causing hot blood to run down, Luca began to regret not training with his father, who he knew all too well to be an apex swordsman. A fitting word for his opponent, who seemed to have been able to predict all his attacks, and had yet to draw blood from fighting with Luca, who on the other hand, was panting like a dog that ran a marathon. His uniform, which he had always taken an utmost precaution in keeping in good shape, was in tatters, his hands were bleeding as were various other parts of his body. He couldn't go on like this.

Perfect timing. Really. Everything happened in a slight blur as the blade flicked Luca's sword out of his hands, and a heavy blow sent him on his back, the blood trickling from his mouth as he struggled to get up, only to realize he probably broke a rib... on that thought, he probably broke MANY ribs. He looked back at the man in the distance as he lay on his back, a flaming pain in his front. He hardly comprehended how exactly he was able to get kicked that far... though what wasn't beyond his understanding was Yoshika's hands being placed around his head, supporting him upwards into a sitting position.

"Stand back! I am warning you!" Erica called out, gun held out straight at the approaching assassin. A glance from Luca would confirm that it was his gun he had dropped. And Erica was pointing it straight at his would-be killer.

He kept moving, at a slow pace almost to taunt Erica as Shirley and Francesca made their way over. They would do something... only most of them were unarmed. They had their arms back in the truck in the event Neuroi would show up, but never in the event when SOMEONE would actually want them dead. The pair could only watch as the masked man approached Luca, sword out, ready to kill him.

He stopped for a moment, the sound of metal and wood piercing what could be assumed to be whatever the costume was made out of. Shirley turned, her jaw agape in surprise. Francesca's eyebrows went up. Yoshika and Erica had similar reactions, but Luca would be the one that was most surprised. His eyes widened in amazement. Perhaps he expected this... perhaps he had hoped for this... perhaps he hadn't. Perhaps he almost thought that what would happen right here was going to be the end of it. It didn't matter.

What was somewhat surprising was that it wasn't his father... sure the man's costume did resemble ARCHER but it was... different. A long red cloak ran out from the back of the hood, and the hood itself was very ornamental with a jagged crown surrounding the brow. The man underneath the hood wore a ring, a ring of a leering demon.

"Y'avol!" The assassin had time to exclaim in surprise, before Y'avol made a simple hand gesture. Just a simple hand gesture and the arrow began to vibrate and hum before the explosion. Luca could not believe his eyes. Neither could anyone that was with him as they looked at the crater, that had once been a man (or possibly, a woman) that was here to kill Yoshika.

* * *

"Damn Gustav... why the hell?!" Jean remarked angrily as his invisibility began to fade, along with other members of the brotherhood. Any bystanders along with the members of the 501st began to realize that the entire streets and rooftops were full of men in black hoods... demons? Ghosts? No. Witches. But no one would know... or even have a clue. Except for Luca.

"Are they witches?!" Yoshika asked Luca who looked just as surprised.

"I don't know!" Luca commented as he picked up his pistol, fear grabbing onto him. If this... Y'avol had the power to make someone explode with but a hand-gesture... than what else was he capable of? His hand ever-shaking as he raised it up, when Y'avol began to make his way forward. If it hadn't been thinking of his dad this whole time... he may have wet himself out of fear.

"STAND BACK..." Luca said in as firm of a voice as possible. "I am warning you!"

"You can fire that gun..." The voice boomed, sounding almost demonic. If MERLIN's voice was a growl, that this was a roar as the devil spoke to them. "But I assure you, it will do nothing. I came to apologize for... this..." Y'avol said gesturing at the crater. "We leave now."

Imagine the confusion and (relief) that someone who seemed as though he wanted to give you an EXTREMELY unpleasant death turned out he just came here to say "Sorry". Yoshika just stared, dumbstruck. Francesca had no comment. Neither did Shirley and for the few times in her life, Erica would be surprised. If he had seen the facial expression of himself, Luca would have broken the record of the longest laugh. All there was, was simple, awkward silence as the men around them vanished into thin air. Any bystanders may have later on, denied anything had even happened, all being figments of their imagination.

"Luca..." The old woman's voice called.

"Ferrara?"

* * *

"You got some chocolate?!"

"Flour... that'll be useful... rice too!"

"An alarm clock... good lord... good thinking Luca..."

"Hey... some blankets... wait... why do we need blankets again?"

"What a crazy day." Luca mumbled as he slumped down, looking over at his tattered uniform which was strewn across the ground. Looking over at himself, he inwardly felt in the mood for breaking something. He took much care in taking care of his uniform, and now... it was in pieces. Currently, he was dressed in a suit, which felt a bit out of place... or rather, VERY OUT OF PLACE... He made sure to mentally note on grabbing another uniform when the time came.

"We're... not going to talk about what happened right?" Shirley whispered to Yoshika through her teeth.

"WE TOTALLY SHOULD!" Francesca exclaimed. "Hey EVERYONE!"

_This would be a good time to excuse myself... _Luca thought as he exited the door and walked down the hallway. His body sore from the beating he had took, and though Yoshika had done an extra good job on healing him, he still felt like dirt. He turned the corner, and bumped right into something solid, something wall-like. He looked up to see the tall form of Skorzeny.

Gulping, the boy got up in record speed before saluting and mumbling an apology. The tall colonel nodded, before turning around to face another man that Luca just didn't want to see. Maloney. The Ar Marshall didn't look too happy to see him, but that was hardly anything compared to how the Britannian felt towards Skorzeny as they continued their heated "debate".

Maloney hated Skorzeny. And if that wasn't clear enough, he made no effort to hide his hatred. The tall man showed no respect to a superior officer, and worst of all, he made it clear that Maloney couldn't be able to do anything about it. Maloney could have been a 5 star in the air force, and Skorzeny wouldn't have as much as given a wooden nickle for his "orders". Likewise, the Colonel would do his best to antagonize the man he hated deeply, though with his political friends, the Colonel knew too well that Maloney could get away with things most men in the army couldn't. Like... stealing money from a joint fighter wing and not being court martialed... just demoted... which considering the circumstances of also STEALING THINGS FROM A SEPARATE MILITARY ORGANIZATION FROM LIBERION... it was plain ridiculous to the Colonel why Maloney, this filth of a man, had not been sent to military prison for his crimes. Malcolm had expressed his distaste for the Britannian, though more... "between the lines" of distaste.

"You think stealing from a Joint Fighter Wing makes you a man, Maloney?! You are a failure. You got your WARLOCK from an idea TEMPEST had. You stole money from the very fighter wing that kept your country in one piece. You are no war hero, you're can hardly call yourself a soldier. Have you ever fought on the front-lines against the Neuroi? Or did you just grow fat and suckle off the hard work of soldiers who won your battles for you?"

"You dare insult me COLONEL?!"

"You think someone like yourself is my... "Superior"? A man who hides behind his political protection so he may keep his post? You're nothing Maloney. I earned my medals, my rank through blood and valor. What did you do to earn yours?"

Luca decided now was an IDEAL time to walk away as he listened to the two men continue their debacle. Out of the frying pan and into the fire as they would say...

"Hey... Luca..." The voice asked from behind him.

"Sir?" Luca asked as he threw his father a salute, to his surprise... his father was in his civilian clothes. A fancy tuxedo and holding quite a few pieces of paper in one hand, looking a mess which was something he almost never appeared as... well... first time that happened.

"Luca... I... um... I was just wondering... how was your trip?"

"Um... it was nice." Luca lied. He never heard his father stutter before... did something happen? Man... his nervousness was making him nervous.

"Listen... two days from now I... I am getting an award back in London... I was wondering if you would attend."

**WAIT WHAT?!**

"Did... did..."

Malcolm repeated his sentence.

"Sir..."

"Luca... you can call me anything as of now. It's just the two of us... I know... I know that after your mother died... I was never really there for you... and I am sorry... I couldn't have been there for you... but... can you... be there for me?"

Let's be honest... this was the worst apology Luca had heard IN HIS LIFE. But you know what? There weren't many times when Malcolm said things that he meant... well... at least Luca THOUGHT his dad meant this... after so many years living with possibly the world's greatest liar, Luca could normally smell if someone wasn't exactly 100% honest... though this time... he wondered... did he... really mean it? A warhero, a skilled general, a deadly soldier, a man who built an empire of lies... was he being truthful?

"Bring a friend..." Malcolm commented as he slipped him a sheet, containing the details. "Or bring everyone. Not that I'd put up a limit. Besides... there are many Fighter Wings going to be present. Some of them will be from Afrika, and you may recognize them."

_He doesn't know does he?_ Luca thought as he saw his dad walk away. The mere mention of Afrika...

"Hey! What's that?" Erica's voice asked.

"Um... well... eh..." Luca began to shudder and break into cold sweat, as memories of Africa flooded his mind.


	25. Chapter 25

Luca sat on his bed, the ticking of the clock besides him driving him to the edges of his sanity as he attempted to recollect what had happened today. Y'avol... he asked his father about who Y'avol was.

_"Where did you hear that name?!" Malcolm had asked, his voice containing traces of unease at the mere mention of it. Luca would be more than just taken back at hearing Malcolm sound uneasy over anything... if Luca knew anything about Malcolm, it was that Malcolm was one of the few male witches in the world, but the only one who was an adult which meant that Malcolm should have had access to powers beyond reckoning... at least this was what Luca thought he knew. After meeting the men in the black hoods... who were clearly witches... unless they somehow had access to equipment that was even more advanced than TEMPEST's... _

_No, they were witches. They had to be... how else? Though his father made no mention of it... perhaps the black hoods... they would have something to do with ARCHER... no matter how much Luca wanted to hope... to wish... he would never see those men again, he knew better. He would see them again... how they were connected to all of this, to him, to his father, to TEMPEST, he had no clue. He didn't want to know._

_And... Ferrara... Ferrara had told him not to stay home for the next few days... what the hell was that supposed to have meant?! And how the hell did Ferrara even know where to find him?! And the did she even CARE about what he wanted to do?! As far as Luca was concerned, Ferrara was just a random old lady... why the hell was she so into his life? And why was she so into Malcolm? Did they know each other? Were they friends?_

_Even if it wasn't for_

* * *

_the fact that Luca had almost been stabbed to death today, there was still the whole thing on the invitation... should he go? He wanted to go meet members of the Top Brass... something his dad must have done on a daily basis considering he WAS A BRASS MEMBER being a four-star. And then of course, how much his dad had wanted him to go... how much it would probably mean to his father if Luca had attended... _

_They've never been close... never... his father had turned stone cold when his mother died, though he'd somewhat more dad-like before that. Luca wouldn't have much to lose if he didn't go... yet that felt wrong... it just didn't feel right... and at the same time... while his heart told him to go... his mind thought different. And then ther was his gut... with Ferrara's warning about staying home..._

_What to do? What to do? _

* * *

"Humph... I am pretty sure if he trained better, he would have been able to beat him!" Perrine scoffed as she held her nose in the air. "Besides... I am CERTAIN if Major Sakamoto was here... she wouldn't have lost to some freak!"

"He wasn't just "some freak" Perrine... he was tough!" Yoshika began. "He was strong... stronger than Luca. And he was also scary... he looked like Merlin though..."

"Who's Merlin again?" Perrine asked as she cleaned her kit. "Oh... right... that other male witch?"

"Yeah... wears a black hood... also looks pretty scary... I think he's a Neuroi..."

"That's a pretty tall statement..." Perrine replied skeptically.

"It's just the colors... the general doesn't talk much about him, only just says they know each other very well... I don't know what that means though..."

"I think what's important is that Merlin is on our side..." Lynette began. "He seems to be very powerful."

Yes... VERY POWERFUL...

* * *

Malcolm looked at his finished bowstring... the dark ether glimmered and shone, but did not move as he placed a finger upon it, gingerly and carefully. He gave it a small test to see that he would be strong enough to use the great bow. As it would turn out, it was just right for him. Testing it, he considered fitting a mundane arrow to the string, but decided to go against it. He had yet to field test such a fine weapon. He looked downwards at his getup, the ARCHER armor which had originally been his uniform that the brotherhood had issued him. Contrary to what many people may say, it was actually the first thing to be Neurofied.

He wondered when he might end having to reveal that he was in fact MERLIN at some time or another... probably will by the time that the Manhattan project finishes. He looked at himself in the mirror, and at the spirit that floated within, that only he could see. The whispers that only he could hear, and the things only he could know. The total destruction of the Neuroi is what was demanded of him. No one stop him. Who can? Aside from Y'avol? Whom Malcolm had already beaten in a battle of wits? Y'avol may have what it took to kill him, but by no means would Y'avol have the pleasure of doing so. In two days from now, he would be meeting with the Brass to receive an award. What it was? They didn't say... if it was really just some more "Good job on _" then Malcolm would probably end up committing homicide at the ceremony.

His mind came back to his son, Luca as he looked at an old family photo. A time when they WERE a family, and a time when they were happy. The good times ended with his wife's death, and he had worked long hours, days and months to the point he barely ever even saw his son except for maybe twice or thrice a year for maybe two or three days at a time. They never did much in those two or three days. Luca had possibly the largest allowance in history of the world, yet he hardly spent a penny of it. Maybe for that fairly large stack of "Batman" comics and the occasional time he would come home late and had to eat outside.

He sighed. He never intended there to be any love lost between him and his son. The long days of slaving for TEMPEST had came at the price of his son. He sighed for another moment, wondering whether or not Luca really would attend the ceremony. He sighed again, hoping that Luca was happy about his new companions. He closed his eyes as he tapped into Luca's mind.

Afrika.

* * *

_"You listen here boy! We cannot stay for another goddamn moment!" The pilot cried as the ground shook around them. "Now I don't give a rat's ass that your pals are trapped in there, we got to go and FAST!"_

_"Another minute! Just... another goddamn minute!" Luca screamed as the screech of the Neuroi beam echoed throughout the landscape carving massive scars into the earth._

_"No way kid! We were supposed to have left five minutes ago! Your friends are probably dead!"_

_"They're witches for Christ's sake! They aren't dead if we can help them!" Luca retorted as he grabbed a weapon and ran out to the ruined airbase, charred corpses, ruined vehicles and rubble adorned the sight of the surprise attack. The Neuroi had gotten the slip of them, and that slip was fatal. Running through the ruins, he looked around, calling out the various members of his Joint Fighter Wing. In the corner of his eye, he spotted one of his friends though it was clear he was too late. Her lush dark hair was now decorated with blood as it bubbled out from her lifeless mouth. Her once bright eyes had gone dark, never to rise and shine again._

_Luca tried not to think about it too much as the beam cut awfully close to him. Sprinting through the ruins, he called the names of various members of his joint fighter wing... none of them responded. Their lifeless forms were strewn across places, many of them haven't even gotten the chance to respond the Neuroi raid._

_"Luca!" A voice screamed out._

_He called her name. Though as Malcolm watched the memories unfold, the name refused to sound itself. Luca had chosen to censor it from his mind. Malcolm continued to watch. He found himself standing next to his son as he managed to free his trapped friend._

_"Go! I'll catch up!"_

_She would hesitate before making a beeline to the plane. The pilot clearly getting more and more impatient as time went on. Finding no one but dead people, Luca would be forced to run back to the plane, his pace increasing with every fall of the Neuroi laser._

_Then out of nowhere, did the red beam come crashing down, consuming the plane in a mighty explosion that sent Luca off his feet. He looked up to see the burning wreckage._

_Malcolm's face grew grimer and darker as he continued to watch as Luca didn't even have to time to vent his sorrow before the Neuroi were soon upon him. Malcolm wondered for a moment whether or not his son had accepted his fate or was willing to fight more. He never knew, no matter how many times he watched this over and over again._

_The black arrows would fly like a vengeful wind making their marks upon every Neuroi. And then... the vision would end._

* * *

"Sanya..." Luca called as she found the Orussian in question sitting besides Eila.

"Yes, Luca?" The quiet girl asked as he sat down with them. Eila was dreaming of some mischief... of course...

"I was just wondering... you know... if I may... can I ask about your father?"

"Oh... well we were separated during the war. We were very close..." She continued. "I look forward to going back to him someday when the Neuroi hive between us is destroyed."

"I see..." Luca said. "You know... my dad and I... we were never really close..."

"Oh... maybe you should..."

"Yeah... that's what I came here to ask... he's having some award handed to him in London in two days. I was wondering if I could have some... advice on the subject."

"You are an idiot..." Eila chuckled. "Of course you should! Isn't it obvious?!"

"Well..."

"Now Eila... don't be mean to him... it's maybe because he isn't sure if he really belongs there. His father is likely to be too busy to pay attention to him too much... but Luca... I think you should go."

"Okay... thanks..." Luca said with a smile.

"Maybe you can make up for the lost time together. Like I hope one day to do with my father."

"Alright then... thanks..." Luca continued. "Hope you don't have anything in two days then."

"Why?"

"If you want to go, there's enough space for everyone." He continued with a smile.


	26. Chapter 26

"Good to see you too Sis." Ursula said as she received a bear hug from her sister as the two prepared to go on the plane in the hangar. "Can you believe it? This plane can go all the way to London in less than an hour!"

"Hypersonic flight as they call it." Malcolm said as he grabbed a large briefcase and placed it inside the storage. Dressed in a splendid tuxedo, he did cut a rather good-looking image for a guy that was over forty years old. "Alright then... we all know the sit-rep?"

_Easy. ETA was about 10:30 AM in the morning to Buckingham palace. Rooms were reserved for everyone so no worries there. Being London, and having multiple JFWs and fighter squadrons present, any threat from Neuroi was going to be intercepted long before they even got to the Britannian coastline. Being London, just have fun for the day and make the most of it. They were going to be back on the frontlines for quite a while afterwards, maybe until the war ends. Obviously in the favor of humanity if anyone had been listening to Malcolm for the past month. Other people present at the award ceremony would be Adolfine Galland, Winston Churchill, Donald Eisenhower and plenty of others... with the unfortunate inclusion of Trevor Maloney... _

"I can't believe that Maloney character is going to be there though!" Perrine had whined at first. The fact that the vice-air Marshall would be invited to the event was quite the surprise to even Malcolm, considering what had happened the previous year. The again... after weighing the facts, the idiot could easily squirm for a few hours for his idiocy. Buckingham had invited various commanders of several Fighter Wings, all witch Fighter Wings at that...

Then again... Maloney while being a minority in opinion on witches, wasn't the only one who had disliked Witches. While Maloney was more out of reasons that involved things like wanting to see the underdogs fail... which was a pretty terrible reason for actually wanting to disband the various Joint Fighter Wings, there were others... extremists that held high posts in the military that had things against witches... a few pious fools that would blabber senselessly about agents of "the devil"...

Malcolm always found that last part hilarious when he thought of himself and TEMPEST's funding of research projects that would actually further amplify the already impressive abilities of the witch. Throw in things like the many Joint Fighter Wings TEMPEST had underneath it's belt and that comparison was actually pretty funny... at least to Malcolm. For reasons that went on, he never had too much respect for the religious though tolerated them. Religion gave men hope when ordinarily, there'd none to be had.

Of course... he digressed. On the subject of witches again, there were those who didn't hate them, but rather, chose to exploit them. Disgusting examples of how not to act like a man. No wonder they would make much enemies among the Joint Fighter Wings... and then there were just those who believed young girls didn't belong a battlefield... whether or not this was out of malice or sympathy, was anyone's guess. Knowing one of his officers, Karl Fraken quite well, Malcolm had a fair idea that Fraken, a father of two was quite sympathetic to witches despite the fact that they could do more damage to the Neuroi and posses a higher survival chance than Franken's entire crew combined.

Whatever the reason of either loving or hating witches, Malcolm knew where he stood. Especially when TEMPEST had over ten JFWs attached to it and the fact that his son was a witch... and that unbeknownst to many people HE WAS a witch...

The subject of witches was quite the controversial one in many gatherings of brass. Men like Maloney would give up body parts just to find an alternative way to combat the Neuroi. Of course, Maloney wasn't exactly the only one who had something against witches. Less enlightened individuals were strewn across the world in places like Europe. Fuso and Liberion seemed to do a good job of not being idiots when the subject was on witches. Speaking of Fuso...

* * *

"We wait now." Jean said to Anna as the old man put on the appearance of an English butler. The old woman herself was under the guise of a cook while various familiar faces were seeded across the crew of Buckingham palace. "Will he be here?"

"With the addition of several high officials of the military? Undoubtedly."

"Understand that we are only after Merlin, and Merlin alone. Let anyone he is with be spared of any untimely fates." Jean continued. "When he arrives, there will be a speech ceremony that I am sure he will deliver. We take the opportunity to when he is done, we will kill him."

Guns and knives had been hidden across Buckingham. When Prospero arrives, he would be a dead man.

* * *

_"Luca..." The rumble of the ARCHER mask called out to him as he lay flat on his back against the pavement of the ruined airbase. He couldn't even as much as cry out from shock as he realized, aside from the masked figure that looked awfully like a Neuroi witch._

"Stay away from me you bastard!" Luca cried out as anger filled him. The replays of every single one of the deaths of his friends echoed throughout him as he rose to his feet, his gun aimed right at the alien's head who had begun to reach for it's face.

_He realized than it was not a face. But a hood._

"Luca..." Malcolm's calm and reasonable baritone replied. "I am your father... it's okay now."

_He couldn't as much as react from sheer surprise. Only just stared at his father. _

**_My dad is a witch._ **

* * *

"General?" Skorzeny asked as they arrived at Buckingham. In his hands, was a massive briefcase that resembled to the one Malcolm had carried, only larger. Large enough to probably stuff a person inside. "We're good to go."

"Excellent!" Malcolm smiled as he clapped his hands together. "Alright, you all go... have fun... do whatever. Just be back at in the ballroom at eight. I still have work to do."

He was given a chorus of "yes sirs" and excited muttering as everyone dispersed to go off. Skorzeny gave a nod to a far off man in the distance, the white cloak of the Suomus sniper fluttered in the wind as the heavy footsteps of a giant and the lighter ones of a regular person entered the gate area.

"Palace is locked down with security. Of course... we provided the security detail." Fraken said with a sly grin.

"If any lousy folks comes along, I'll teach dem some manners!" Custard commented as he cocked his shotgun.

"You might want to put that somewhere else... technically... we're actually not allowed to have weapons on royal property." Skorzeny said. He really couldn't talk when he had an assault rifle slung right over his shoulder.

"It's not security I am worried at all about." Malcolm began. "Just... some of the attendees that are going to be here."

"Maloney... who JUST HAPPENS to be in charge of the air operations of TEMPEST." Fraken groaned.

"We'll take care of him later. Let's not forget the entire population of Gallian royalty who seem to oppose TEMPEST's views."

"And then... there's Stangl... Globocnik..." Skorzeny continued.

"Well... this is what we get from voting on that all Witch fighter wings get a 50% additional funding!" Fraken said. "You ever heard the phrase, protect it and they will protect you? I was certain after we increased the survival rates of the witches with additional funding, the results would be more than enough to convince those fools."

"For a man who wants them off the battlefield, you sure do seem to want to give them more things to work with." Malcolm chuckled.

"I have a daughter who is also a witch." Fraken continued. "Every day I have trouble sleeping at night when I think about her... if there's anything I can do to help... I'll do it."

"And that's why we, TEMPEST is going to win this war." Malcolm continued. "Besides... some men are idiots. They just want to see their biggest chance fail for the sake of seeing it fail."

"I reckon that the final thing to say here is sir, that we should all brace ourselves for a colossal shitstorm!" Custard commented. "Dem witches are quite the topic among brass. They'll either love ya or hate ya for it."


	27. Chapter 27

"Malcolm!" A familiar female voice called out as Malcolm shook hands with yet another junior officer.

"I hear you Galland!" Malcolm replied with a grin. The only one of junior rank who could get away with calling him by his first name was none other than Adolfine Galland, Vice-Air Marshall and the current holder of the highest rank ever given to a witch (at least, that's what they thought).

"Good to see you again." The Karlslandian smiled as she shook hands with her long time friend. "You have no idea how much I appreciate you and your organization... what's that term you use in Liberion? Swinging the vote? Regardless, I cannot thank you enough for turning the vote in our favor."

"Your good fortune is my good fortune. Malcolm replied. "I hope the funding goes another step further in driving the Neuroi off our world."

"And I hope that TEMPEST can continue to provide for the Joint Fighter Wings and the militaries of the world."

"Prospero! Galland! A jolly good pleasure to once again meet you both!" A Britannian Air Chief Marshall called out. Dowding himself. "You have no clue how glad I am Malcolm, that you decided to make the sensible decision!"

"You don't need to be glad that I make the right choices. You should only be glad if those idiots for once don't make a mess of things." Malcolm shot back with a smile, making sure that Maloney was in full view and earshot of what he had said. Turning to Skorzeny, he whispered something into the big man's ear. The colonel nodded, before turning away to go get something for his superior.

"Quite the giants you got serving you..." Adolfine commented at the sight of Custard, who's impressive size shot many gazes of awe from the attendees of the ceremony. "You tried to give the regular army a fighting chance?"

"Fighting chance?" Dowding laughed. "They beat the Neuroi at their own game in Karlsland. Sooner or later, the Neuroi will be wiped off this earth with Malcolm being the genius behind it all!"

"Thank you. But let's not forget the unsung heroes. The foot soldiers, the mechanics, the scientists who all donated their efforts into our cause." Malcolm continued. "But of course, victory is at hand."

"Aye, we drive out the Neuroi, and we reclaim our world!"

"You think too small my friend." Malcolm grinned. "I am aiming for nothing less, than the total destruction of their vile race."

"Well... good luck with that..." Galland replied rather skeptically.

"No, Adolfine, we already found a way at TEMPEST. With that, we're going to win the war, and stop the Neuroi threat once and for all." Malcolm said as he turned to his side. Despite the fact that no one was there next to him, he still nodded and smiled as though he was agreeing with some invisible specter that only he could see.

"Oh... mind explaining?" Dowding asked.

"Sorry... professional secrets."

"That's no way to treat a friend..." Dowding replied face in a gesture of mock offense. "Okay... but if you say there's a way, I believe you."

"Who wouldn't have faith in the most effective commander in all of Europe?" Galland added.

"Trevor Maloney?" Dowding chuckled. "Humph... why the hell wasn't that man given a court martial and thrown in jail is beyond me."

"Didn't they actually try to court martial him?" Malcolm asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because from what I heard, Maloney still walked out of it... just getting sent down a notch."

"Nope... walked away, just only got demoted down to vice-air marshal so that the next time Galland saw him, she could ridicule him all she wanted without fear of repercussion. Which I am sure... you'll take that opportunity today... right friend?"

"You bet." Galland replied with a smile. "General... isn't that your son over there?"

"Why it indeed is..." Malcolm commented as he waved Luca over. "Meet Lieutenant Lucas Prospero, currently of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing."

"And the only male witch currently in existence I believe..." Dowding commented. "Hey son..."

"Air Marshall Dowding? Sir? It's an honor to meet you."

"Likewise boy, it's not everyday I meet someone who's one in two billion." Dowding replied as he shook his hand. "So... if I may ask, being the only witch who is a man... is there anything particular about you?"

"Umm... in terms of being a witch? No. The fact that I am the only male witch? I think that's particular... right?"

"Of course!" Galland grinned. "You know Malcolm, I thought you were pulling my leg when you told me he was a witch."

"His mother was a witch too... a pretty powerful one at that. It only made sense that Luca would be at least somewhat gifted." Malcolm continued. "Though... I say somewhat, because Luca has an inability to use any ground strikers." _That pretty powerful one wasn't referring to his mother. _

"Humph... that's why..." Dowding began slowly. "When you told me here about Karlsland, I actually was screaming to myself why he wasn't supporting the army, not the air force. Makes sense now."

"Got to help some way we can... right sir?" Luca asked.

"That's the spirit son!" Dowding replied with a grin. "So... Malcolm..."

* * *

"You again?" Erica asked in her bored look.

"Yes... me again... oh hey... it's you!"

"Whoa... I never knew you'd be here." Luca commented as she looked at the "Desert Eagle" or "Star of Africa" as she was colloquially known.

"And you're that one witch who's actually a guy... you don't happen to be gender confused do you?"

"That's not very nice..."

"I am kidding!" Hanna smirked as she gave Luca a hefty smack on the back. "By the way... I don't give our autographs... unless you happen to win a bet."

"Humph..." Erica sniffed as she watched Luca, who wasn't exactly sure what to make of that last sentence.

"Umm... okay... I didn't ask for a photograph..."

"Of course! Why would the only witch who is a guy want a photograph from THE Hanna Marseille? Certainly a guy with only about fifty shotdowns over the course of years..."

"Oh come on!" Luca rolled his eyes. "It's only cause I got assigned to the MOST BORING post in all of Africa!" _Except for that one day... _

"I am just teasing... just teasing." Hanna smirked again. "Besides... who wouldn't want an autograph from General Prospero's son... okay... tell you what actually. You give me an autograph from your dad... and I'll give you an autograph... how's that?"

"Probably not a fair trade." Erica grumbled.

"Besides..." The voice called from behind. "I don't really give autographs. Same business policy as a certain someone..."

They all broke in hearty laughter at this as Malcolm, in a tuxedo made his way with the three younger soldiers.

"Hanna! Best witch in Africa eh?"

"General." Hanna smiled as she shook hands with him. "Thank you again for that extra funding. You have no clue how much I appreciated an extra moth worth of smokes..."

"Really?" Malcolm asked rolling his eyes. "REALLY?"

"Yes... really... sir." The last part, being somewhat tacked on out of the need of professionalism. "But regardless, thank you again. And by the way, I think I am not just the best witch in Africa... maybe the world."

"I dunno... I think I can name about two others who can give you a run for your money... one of them is right here." Malcolm said guesturing at Erica. "The other... I can't say his name right now... it'll come to me any time."

"Him? But isn't there only..."

"That's what I think..." Malcolm said as he scratched his chin in a really convincing show of attempting to remember something. "Ah... whatever. But he's pretty good. Legend has it he caused entire Neuroi hive clusters to disappear."

"Him huh? I bet it's not Luca."

"No... no... we still got a long way to go for THAT to happen... right Lieutenant?"

"Right sir." Luca replied to his father. Inwardly, he rolled his eyes and laughed at the same time. How typical of his dad to give himself credit when no one had as much of a clue to what he TRULY meant. The sound of a fanfare echoed throughout Buckingham.

"That's our cue... best get into our seats." Malcolm said as he headed towards the area marked for the ceremony.

* * *

Sitting next to Erica, Luca looked onward at the ceremony which had yet to begin. Smiling to himself and to Erica, he looked at his father in the row in front of him, who had looked back to check on him and nodded. The man up on the stage? That was Churchill!

"May I please have... Lieutenant Lucas Prospero?"

Wait... what?


	28. Chapter 28

To be honest, Luca's slowness in getting up on the podium was only to be found not at the lack of self-confidence, but mainly at the fact that no one had told him that he would have to find himself staring down at practically every member of brass in Buckingham and the fact he had little to no preparation on the topic. Shuffling slowly upwards, he met face to face with Churchill, who surprisingly, wanted to shake his hand.

"Good evening. Lieutenant Lucas Prospero... am I right?"

"Yes sir... but with all due respect, perhaps you have the wrong Prospero?"

"Of course not my fine boy!" Churchill laughed delightfully as he shook hands with the boy, the sounds of photos snapping echoed through the room. "I made certain you were the one to come up! So tell me lad, first off, the renowned Malcolm Prospero is your father... right?"

"Yessir."

"Well Malcolm, I bet you are quite proud of him aren't you?" Churchill asked as he turned to Malcolm who was nodding and smiling slowly. "Many good years of service to the allied cause."

"Indeed sir."

"You look confused lad. Something wrong?" Churchill asked as a porter brought up a silver medal. The Silver Star.

"I... I was supposed to receive a medal sir? I didn't know until today."

"By Jove! Talk about being misinformed! Who is your Commanding Officer? He must be rather absentminded to not..." He stopped talking when he heard someone rise back in audience.

"That'd be me sir. General Malcolm Prospero of Liberion, current director of TEMPEST and veteran of the 1st Neuroi war. At your service. Oh by the way... also the man who cleared the entire alps of all Neuroi presences, headed the same department that built the next-gen striker units, as well as working with the experimental jet engine. Yes... that's me by the way."

"Oh... goodness me! Bless your heart Malcolm! How could you not tell your man, AND your own son that he was receiving a blooming medal?"

"There's a concept in Liberion, Mr. Prime Minister sir, that well... first thing. Happy belated birthday. Second thing... I hope you found this surprise to be most interesting even if you were under-prepared and misinformed. I see that the note had accidentally been left in the turbines of an experimental jet engine. Sorry everyone."

A small ripple of laughter ripped through the audience, including Churchill who just golf-clapped at Malcolm's quipping. He turned to Luca who looked as though he had seen something from another planet.

"Something wrong lad?"

"Huh? Oh nothing at all sir." Luca replied as they continued with the ceremony.

_Did my dad just... MAKE A JOKE?! _Within the confines of his amazement, he didn't exactly hear his father's ceremony wasn't due until for another two hours.

* * *

"When do you think he'll be isolated from all the others?"

"In two hours I suppose. Right now I think it'd be best if we killed him as soon as he finished his speech."

"And that Prospero boy? Lucas?"

"We'll leave him be. I doubt he has any hand in Malcolm's plans, or is anything like his father."

"You don't suppose Malcolm would..."

"No. I doubt Prospero could or even would teach his son."

"The manipulation of the Dark Ether. It's something only two witches have accomplished."

* * *

"Well... I certainly didn't know." Luca commented as he glanced at the medal and the ridiculously large crowd of witches, who just realized that in Buckingham, was possibly the only male witch in thousands of years. "But I got no complaints."

"You sure don't. What about that your dad is Malcolm Prospero? The man who managed to retake the alps in just a short time?"

"No complaints that my dad is a member of brass. He's great... yeah he's great..." Luca mumbled as he took a sip of the golden liquid. Champagne. Never knew it tasted this good. Tentatively, he looked over to his father who was watching him and shaking his head in disapproval. Prudently, Luca decided not to finish the glass, knowing full well that his dad probably would kill him literally and figuratively if he did.

"So... only male witch huh? What's it like to be with the 501st?"

"Yeah... it's nice... it's nice... I swear... you people are like the press..." Luca laughed, the wine perhaps taking it's effects already. "I swear... they could not even as much as leave me alone to go take a shower when the world found out I was a witch."

"Hmm... were there any particularly attractive women among the press?" Some rather mischievous voice called out. "I bet they really wanted to see you in the shower..."

Luca wasn't even sure how to reply to that. He looked over to his father, wondering exactly how no one managed to DISCOVER him yet. What the uproar that would cause with people realizing maybe the reason Prospero was extra, extra, extra, EXTRA generous when it came to Witch Fighter Wings was because he too was a witch. And perhaps... perhaps the one who the Neuroi was afraid of the most. What was that thing he could do again? Besides from about thirty years of combat experience, that same amount with magic, never having to lose his powers... besides from that. Forget the fact he could learn most abilities just by peeking into someone's head... the manipulation of the Dark Ether. Was that even possible? He had never seen his father do anything along those lines. Whereas the Ether was tame, calm and a reliable source of magic. The Dark Ether was unpredictable, and had a tendency to turn things inside-out. Physically. If his Dad truly knew the secrets of the Dark Ether, which was reputed only as an old witches' tale then... why hasn't he used the power yet? To I dunno... probably do something crazy like blow up an entire Hive Cluster just with a single attack? He has mastered the ability... right?

Shrugging to himself, Luca turned back to the crowd around him, but mostly to the girl in the back. Erica.

"Okay... can I stand up?"

"Go right ahead. What you going to do?"

"Nothing... nothing... Hi Erica." Luca smiled as he reached out his hand. "How about some help?"

"No." Erica grinned mischievously, looking at Luca squirm with all the girls around him. Girls. He had been with them all his life, and yet he looked like a drunk ape with a rubix cube when he tried to deal with them. "Having fun?"

"Help me..." Luca called out in mock distress, causing him to get sat back down again.

"More wine Prospero?"

"No... I am going to literately be murdered if I do." He said as he shot a tentative look at his dad, who was still watching him.

"Mess up your uniform or let me catch you drunk and I promise you, being trapped in a room full of Neuroi will seem sweet." Malcolm warned to his son, smiling a little inwardly as Luca practically retched in embarassment. "Just kidding by the way. Have fun."

AWESOME.

* * *

"Prospero is giving his speech."

"Get in position."

"Good. As soon as he's finished, I want more bullets in him than a Neuroi Capital class can take."


	29. Chapter 29

"Ladies and Gentlemen, friends and family, all across Europe and the world." Malcolm began as he cleared his throat upon the podium. "I am humbled to stand and project my voice across all four corners of our world. And only our world. For decades, our homes, our families, and our world have been under siege under the Neuroi, the race that seeks to wipe us off this planet! But what if I told you... what if I told you... that our struggle is not one of decades, but of CENTURIES?! Of Millennial?! Since the dawn of human civilization?! Since the day we breathed, that the Neuroi had always assaulted this world... this world that is rightfully ours?! Our struggle however, has only been known truly for the past decades, yet today, I cast the light! The light upon that the struggle of humanity against the vile Neuroi had lasted long before our forefathers! Years ago, the Neuroi once again struck in Europe, a fatal blow to many families, to many friends and to many great nations alike! Years ago, when the Neuroi attacked to take by force what they could not take by right, we fought back! We pushed them! We forced their hands! And on this day, I am proud to say I stand among the most desperate battles in all of humanity's history! For know this ladies and gentlemen! That the night is darkest before the dawn! And that when the dawn comes, and it will come, we will stand tall and proud! The banner of the vile Neuroi will never fly above any land! That we... we... and only us, humanity are the true masters of this world! Ten thousand years from now, when the Neuroi are all but a vile memory in the sands of time, our future generations will look upon the millions of deaths, the countless battles, the bloodshed from across the globe not with the look of fear of what may happen again, but with PRIDE! With the PRIDE that WE, their forerunners crushed the Neuroi threat and destroyed their vile race!"

He paused for a moment, looking upon the masses before him. His voice projected not through Buckingham or through Britannia, but to all the world. In this moment, the world was fixed upon him. And so was Rebecca. As he turned to the side for a moment, he smiled and nodded as though someone was standing besides him.

"Years ago, we were weak. We were PREY! We were nothing but WAITING for the Neuroi to kill us! But through our loss, through our hardships, we have become stronger than ever before! We will wear our wounds like badges of honor! And when the Neuroi come, when the final blackest night is in the skies, when we battle the Neuroi for the rights of this world! For OUR WORLD, they will know, as they like snowflakes upon the winter blizzard rain down upon us, as they leave our bodies in ashes, our cities in ruins, as our final breathes BURN their mechanical abominations, as our final words CONDEMN them to the hell they sprang out of, and as specters shatter every last one of their dreams and haunt their nightmares! They will know... Earth, belongs to humanity. And that humanity, will rise up and destroy them. And that TEMPEST, will be proud, to lead the storm that consumes them all."

He took a deep breath, and stopped. Looking as all of Buckingham rose to their feet, the clapping and thunderous applause of two billion souls echoed behind them. The world was ready. When the time come, there would be no shortage of volunteers to rally against the Neuroi threat. He smiled as he tapped the microphone.

"TEMPEST, a Liberion and Karlsland research corps will be proud to announce that we have developed the means to end this war. God bless everyone." Malcolm smiled as the applause grew louder and louder. He turned to the right once more, smiling at the specter which smiled back upon him. "For you. A million times over."

The crack of a sniper rifle echoed through Buckingham. And before anyone could as much as react, Malcolm had fallen upon the ground, a red stain encompassing his chest. The horror ripped throughout the crowd as men and women tried to force their ways out of the room, a black hood that highly resembled to the one MERLIN wore paraded itself down the center, a Katana in hand as it approached Malcolm who's hand was upon his chest.

"DAD!" Luca screamed in shock and horror as he grabbed a knife and charged at the hood, his hand flew forward to strike his father's attacker only to be blocked, countered and flipped on his back. A foot right into his gut causing him to splutter up blood and spittle.

"The general!" Someone screamed. Many people ran forward to help, but many more simply escaped the room, not wanting to be in the same room as a dark figure that highly resembled a Neuroi without the red spots.

"It's over Merlin." The deep rumble hissed as it approached Malcolm's fallen form, sword hung high above his head.

"Far from it actually." Malcolm said as his pained expression turned to a deep grin, his hand removed from his chest to realize whatever injury there was, was now non-existent. He vanished into a puff of smoke which conveniently, no one saw.

"There's more than just one!" Skorzeny's voice rang out as the big man entered the room, a shotgun in hand as he approached the figure. Firing twice, he wasn't too surprised to see that the witch had avoided both shots. Throwing his gun away, he drew his knife, it would be far more satisfying to kill a man this way anyways.

"Where did your dad go?!" Erica cried over the din as she saw the men in black appear straight out of nowhere. Were they men? Or were they highly advanced Neuroi witches?! She didn't know, only tended to Luca as he groaned in pain, two ribs broken with a simple stamp of the foot. The sounds of gunfire and blades cutting through flesh erupted throughout Buckingham as TEMPEST's soldiers seemed to materialize out of thin air. A gunshot, and a black cloak would fall to the ground, blood pouring out of it's chest.

They were human. Then... why?

From his vantage point. White Death, or Simon Häyhä as his true name was grinned with malicious pleasure as he fired yet another round, dropping another witch. The leader, the one with the sword moved with inhuman speed, cutting through men with speeds that Erica hardly as much as perceived. What were they?! What the hell were they?!

"Looking for me?" A deep rumble called out as MERLIN jumped into the room. His dark hood was just like the one's of the men who had attacked Malcolm with the exception of the red spots.

"Merlin." Jean glared from underneath his hood. "It's time we killed you."

"Then try it!" Malcolm roared from underneath his hood as he drew his sword, the dark blade hummed and pulsed with unholy energies as it pointed itself at Jean who's blade too glowed with some otherwordly origin.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Erica said to herself as she removed the hood off a fallen body. It was a man... a fairly old one at that... and were they witches?! She turned around to see a familiar spell. A spell just like her own tear through the room crushing many men. She caught a glimpse of MERLIN and the leader as MERLIN kicked the hooded witch outside.

Why would people be fighting each other? Why would they want to...

Where did the General go?


End file.
